UPDATE: Spox denies Russian plan to raise taxes after pres election

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MOSCOW, May 16 (PRIME) -- Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, on Monday denied reports that Russia plans to raise taxes after a presidential election in 2018.

The Wall Street Journal reported on May 15, citing government officials who spoke on a condition of anonymity, that the government is considering raising income tax and value-added tax rates after the election in order to cover shortfalls in budget revenue because of cheaper oil.

“There are no decisions in this regard, no dominant point of view and it is impossible to talk about that, sure,” Peskov told reporters. He added that there are no economic plans envisaging a tax increase and an economic situation in 2018 is hard to predict.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the ministry is not preparing any proposals to raise taxes in the country. “We are not making such calculations, there are no initiatives or orders,” he said.

“We are working very hard on the spending part of the budget and on the improvement of management, so that even in conditions of a contracting income due to the changed macroeconomic situation there would be no need to raise taxes,” Siluanov said.

He also said that the existent amount of tax revenue is enough to finance the budget.

Sergei Naryshkin, speaker for the State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, said that there have been no proposals to raise taxes after the presidential election. “Indeed, this decision has not been made at any level, anyway, no such decisions have been voiced at the level of authorities.”

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