“Next year is going to be unique: personal income tax will be higher than income tax for the first time in history”

“The reasons are well known to everyone: oil, coronavirus, dollar rate fluctuations”

Deputy Minister of Economy of Tatarstan Oleg Pelevin, who announced the forecast of socio-economic development of the republic for 2021-2023 at the meeting, said that in general the development process is “characterised by a high degree of uncertainty”, which is directly related to “the epidemiological situation, price volatility in financial markets and energy resources”.

Under these conditions, according to the official, the gross regional product of Tatarstan by the end of 2020 is estimated at 2,4 trillion rubles, and in 2021, the GRP is projected at 103,9%. Pelevin elaborated on the construction sector, the share of which in the GRP of Tatarstan is estimated at 8,5%.

“In the construction complex, the average annual growth rate in 2021-2023 is projected at 101%. Housing construction is a socially significant task. In 2020, it is planned to introduce 2,9 million square metres of housing, including 273,600 square metres under the social mortgage programme. As for the Our Yard programme, 1,084 yard territories are planned to be improved in 2020, and as of October 1, the works are underway at 990 objects, at 526 of which road works have been completed," the deputy minister reported.

Deputy Minister of Finance of the Republic of Tatarstan Aleksey Shishkin also complained about the difficult conditions that have developed in 2020. The official noted that “what is happening this year, to a certain extent, affects the budget for next year”.

“What we have today: over 9 months, revenues to the consolidated budget amounted to 171,9 billion rubles, to the budget of the republic — 140,3 billion rubles. There is a certain lag compared to last year. The reasons are well known to everyone: oil, coronavirus, dollar rate fluctuations. However, everything has been going smoothly for the last 4 months, and we expect a certain growth by the end of the year, and maybe the lag will be closed. Especially taking into account the assistance from the federal budget and the balance at the beginning of the year," Shishkin said.

“Next year is going to be unique”

According to the deputy finance minister, it was especially difficult to forecast revenues in 2020, because “there were quite a lot of unknown factors”. Nevertheless, the revenue vision of the next year's budget has developed.

“We have to state that, unfortunately, we will not be able to achieve the same indicators as in previous years in terms of income tax. In the last 5 years, the income tax has always tended to increase, but today we say that there will be a certain decrease — by 15-20%," said Aleksey Shishkin. “Next year is going to be unique in that the size of personal income tax will be greater than one of the income tax. This is for the first time in history. This has never happened before.

If we talk in more detail, the income tax will amount to 77 billion rubles, personal income tax — 81,5 billion rubles. Excise taxes are expected to amount to 41,2 billion rubles, and corporate property tax — 26 billion rubles.

Another feature of the budget for 2021-2023, according to Shishkin, is that the salary of officials will not be indexed and increased.

“The most socially sensitive issues haven't been sequestered”

It was interesting to hear specific figures included in the budget of the Republic of Tatarstan for expenditure items related to housing and communal services. In general, the expenditures for housing and communal services are provided in the amount of 15,9 billion rubles. Of these, 1,3 billion rubles will be spent on co-financing major repairs of apartment buildings, 1,5 billion rubles — on acceptance and commissioning of housing stock and cultural facilities, and 108,8 million rubles — on resettling from emergency housing.

“If we talk about landscaping, there are 225 million rubles provided for the modernisation of street lighting, 1,7 billion rubles for parks and squares, 1,3 billion rubles for the formation of a modern urban environment, and 490 million rubles are provided by the federal budget for creating a comfortable urban environment in small towns and historical settlements," Shishkin listed.

At the same time, the maintenance of the State Housing Inspectorate will cost 74 million rubles, and 24 million rubles provided for the Department for Housing Management.

“We need to be patient, work with taxes, achieve over-fulfillment of the revenue part, and then we can make some additional expenses. And, of course, certain agreements will be signed with the federal authorities, which will also increase the expenditure part on expenditure items," the deputy finance minister concluded.

Alexander Tygin added that, despite the report of the ministry of finance, “the most socially sensitive issues haven't been sequestered”.

“Good luck to Marat Mansurovich in this difficult position in the ministry of construction”

The newly minted minister of construction, architecture and housing of Tatarstan, Marat Ayzatullin, made a public report for the first time during the committee meeting. The head of the ministry of construction spoke about the preparation of amendments to the law on urban development of the Republic of Tatarstan.

“The first concerns the timing of providing access to draft amendments to approved territorial planning documents. Previously, for all types of territorial planning documents, it was necessary to post them at least 3 months before approval, now the period is reduced to 1 month," the minister said.

Amendments are also proposed to the regulations on territorial planning. According to Ayzatullin, instead of information about the types, purpose and names of settlements, urban districts planned for placement of local importance, their main characteristics, location, the provision can contain information about the need for these local objects without specifying their main characteristics and location. At the same time, the general plan of a settlement or urban district may provide for territories for which functional zones are not established.

There were no questions after Marat Ayzatullin's short speech, but there was a parting message from the head of the SMU-88 construction company, Deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan Ilya Wolfson.

“I would like to wish good luck to Marat Mansurovich in this difficult position, and success. I express my gratitude not only as a deputy of the State Council, but also from major developers — for understanding our problems so quickly before the works started. I would like to express my hope that the work will continue in the same way, and we will meet with the ministry of construction of the Republic of Tatarstan at least once or twice every 3 months," Wolfson said.

Chairman of the Committee Alexander Tygin joined the kind parting words and offered to support the bill presented by Ayzatullin in the first and third readings.