Russian Taxes, Trump and Casualties

Well, Russia is having a federal election soon. A truism of politics, whether in democratic or authoritarian systems, is that unpopular measures are implemented after elections.

Taxes are always unpopular. It’s a truism of life. Nobody likes to pay them. Russian taxes have been low by global standards. Currently, the national fund, which funds things like pensions, is going away. Yes, Putin has taken a hammer to the national piggy bank. So here we are:

“The budget is bursting at the seams, falling apart.” The economist explained why the Russian authorities urgently needed to raise taxes.

The authorities want to increase taxes on personal income and profits, Important Stories found out . They simply have no other choice, economist Vyacheslav Shiryaev explained in the “Air” program .

“For the first two months, January and February, a very negative situation is visible in terms of the budget deficit . It amounted to 1.5 trillion rubles, instead of 1.6 trillion for the year. And this figure follows from the fact that the budget must collect revenues of 35 trillion rubles. And last year he collected 29 trillion, the year before — about the same. No one can answer how they are going to collect another 6 trillion . There were vague phrases about additional tax revenues, the situation on the commodity markets… But there is no good situation in sight, everything is just falling. Discounts are growing, problems with the tanker fleet…”.

By the end of the…