UPDATE: Russian govt discusses relieving poor from income tax

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MOSCOW, Nov 21 (PRIME) -- The Russian government is considering a progressive personal income tax scale, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said on Monday.

“We are now discussing the income tax and I think that in order to alleviate poverty, an income tax exemption on the lower bracket of scale is one of the crucial steps. We have calculated this measure and are discussing it today,” Golodets said.

But Svetlana Nikitina, aide to the finance minister, told PRIME that the Finance Ministry is discussing no new ideas for the personal income tax scale.

“We have no new initiatives to change the personal income tax scale. The Finance Ministry is not holding these discussions. The main directions of the tax policy do not include such proposals. A return to discussion of the issue is not possible before 2018,” she said.

Russia’s income tax currently flat at 13%. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said earlier that changing this system for a progressive scale is unfeasible until after 2018.

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