PM says tax changes in Russia matter of economic devt rate

MOSCOW, Dec 12 (PRIME) -- No country in the world has unchanged taxation and its increase is a matter of choice of the pace of economic development, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a government meeting on Tuesday.

“It is clear why businessmen are talking about this. You understand as well that no country in the world has an unchanged tax burden. It can rise in certain circumstances if we want to reach the goals of public good. This is a matter of choice and a matter of the country’s development pace,” Medvedev said.

Business daily Vedomosti reported that the government abandoned an earlier discussed idea of tax reforms.

The Finance Ministry earlier offered to cancel an oil export duty and to increase the mineral extraction tax (MET) and to reduce the payroll tax in exchange for growth of value-added tax (VAT).

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