‘It is necessary to raise the attractiveness of industrial sites and parks’
Residents are attracted to Tatarstan industrial parks with stimulating tax concessions. The effect will make itself known next year, the authorities promise
The first 80 residents who agreed to enter Tatarstan industrial parks with a critical occupancy rate below 70% received tax concessions for 3,6 billion rubles. “We decided to level conditions with economically developed regions,” this is how first Tatarstan Vice Economy Minister and Director of the Entrepreneurship and Competition Development Department Rustem Sibgatullin explained the meaning of helicopter preferences delivering a speech at a briefing in the Tatarstan State Council on 9 December. By the end of the year, agreements on stimulating concessions will be signed with another 70 residents of rural industrial parks. In general, one in two, or 53 industrial parks, needs to reach the 100% occupancy rate. Read more about the situation with the republic’s industrial parks in Realnoe Vremya’s report.
So that they won’t come and go but stay for long
The Tatarstan government found a solution to fill the capacity of industrial parks to the full that are designed to become incubators to support businesses at different points. Today the republic has 105 industrial parks, but a bit more than a half of this extensive infrastructure is occupied by entrepreneurs and forces the government to look for extraordinary measures.
As Chairman of the Tatarstan State Council Committee for Economy, Investments and Entrepreneurship Lutfulla Shafigullin noted, the parks in general are in demand from businesses. However, the capacity in some of them doesn’t exceed 70%. To raise entrepreneurs’ interest in entering the parks, the government decided to provide stimulating tax concessions but for a long term, for ten years at once so that businesses won’t come and go but stay for long.
As Shafigullin said, to revive the activity of industrial parks, Tatarstan is launching a set of tax concessions provided by the republic. It includes a lower rate in a simplified taxation system, exemption from transport tax and organisations’ property tax (Editor’s note: their incomes go to the regional treasury).
“Both residents and managing companies that signed agreements with the Tatarstan Ministry of Economy for ten years can use these three concessions,” added first Tatarstan Vice Economy Minister and Director of the Entrepreneurship and Competition Development Department Rustem Sibgatullin.
According to him, nowadays 80 agreements have been signed, while the amount of tax concessions is assessed at 3,6 billion rubles. But instead, residents must reinvest this sum in production development and save 2,000 jobs, Sibgatullin explained. He assured them that such a mechanism allowed levelling economic conditions between districts of the republic. The number of such agreements will rise to 150 by the end of the year. Nowadays 53 industrial parks with an occupancy rate below 70% are certified by the Tatarstan Ministry of Economy.
“Some hotheads offered to cancel taxes for three years in general due to the pandemic. I don’t think this a successful solution. Everybody must pay taxes, but they shouldn’t be unbearable and big,” explained member of the Tatarstan State Council’s Committee for Economy, Investments and Entrepreneurship Marat Galeyev. According to him, deputies have already advocated a lower debt burden, not elimination of taxes.
The effect will be seen next year
Nowadays 1,500 residents operate on the territory of industrial parks in Tatarstan, more than 39,000 jobs were created.
“Now it is time to deal with the quality of services provided in infrastructural facilities,” thinks Chairman of the Tatarstan State Council Committee for Economy, Investments and Entrepreneurship Lutfulla Shafigullin. “It is necessary to raise the attractiveness of industrial sites and parks, including by providing tax concessions, introducing new support measures, improving the management system.”
Entrepreneurs can evaluate the effect of the support measures they will receive earlier next year when tax declarations will start to be filled in. Since the adoption of laws on providing tax concessions at 16 industrial parks, 60 new residents started working.
Also, 1,2 billion rubles are envisaged for state entrepreneurship support, while considering the capitalisation of agencies of the Ministry of Economy — Tatarstan Entrepreneurship Fund and Tatarstan Guarantee Fund — the total support will reach 3,55 billion rubles, Rustem Sibgatullin said.
Besides, financial programmes, support measures are offered in the national project Small and Mid-Size Entrepreneurship and Sole Trader’s Initiative Support created for three business development fields — self-employed people, beginners and operating entrepreneurs.