One ant per a swarm of dragonflies: where the income tax increase will lead to

The Institute for Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEF RAS) has published its version of a new social contract for Russia, writes Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Scientists have named the ineffective redistribution of income in the economy, which results in a skewed consumption structure, as a key problem. Many markets are shrinking due to low demand. The new social contract should fix that. The INP RAS listed several of its points: "reasonable growth of wages in the public sector", an increase in the income tax rate for the most well-to-do part of citizens - options are being considered to increase it to 20, 25, 31%.

This measure is already causing controversy among the expert community. So, network analyst Dmitry Milin did not leave a stone unturned from the proposal of scientists, whom he called "parasites on the budget":

“Actually, there is nothing new in these proposals. This is an old idea of raising taxes on the hardworking, and distributing what has been collected to state employees who have grown in numbers over the past 20 years.

This is not surprising in a situation where 68% of Russians believe that the state should take care of its citizens and provide them with a decent lifestyle, without hesitation where the state will get money (print), and most importantly where will it get additional goods and services if the majority is not going to do it. bother with any constructive work.

Considering that neither the billionaire colonels Zakharchenko (Ministry of Internal Affairs) and Cherkalin (FSB), nor the generals of the ICR, who took bribes from the thief-in-law, paid no personal income tax from this money, just as the governors do not pay personal income tax from kickbacks in billions of rubles, the main burden of the progressive tax falls on the hardworking minority of highly qualified specialists and owners of Russian small and medium-sized businesses. Oligarchs, by the way, do not pay personal income tax either - their income is registered in offshore companies, from which money cannot be taken in Russia.

Let me remind you that the current progression threshold of 15% (+ 2% to 13%) starting from 5 million income per year or from 416 thousand per month gives (in the government's plans, but in reality less) only 60 billion rubles. Even if it is done at 30% (+ 17% to the current 13%), while maintaining the same progression threshold of 5 million, it will give only 510 billion rubles a year (this is a theoretical maximum without taking into account the withdrawal of income into the shadows), which is rather ridiculous numbers: dividing this amount by all 145 million inhabitants, we get less than 300 rubles a month.

Significant sums in impoverished Russia can be taken at the expense of progressive personal income tax only if you start taxing the middle class with incomes above 50-70 thousand per month, which by Western standards is poverty, in some countries the owners of such income even receive tax benefits.

Moreover, any thresholds of progression fixed in rubles, inflation will constantly shift downward, towards even less well-to-do citizens, which will lead to higher levies from more and more people in favor of the budget. And from it, by the usual corrupt methods, money will be redistributed not in favor of the poor, but in favor of corrupt officials and embezzlers who do not pay personal income tax at all!

In fact, now in Russia we have a situation of domination in society of infantile parasites who do not want, do not know how and are not going to bother themselves with productive work, who are looking for an opportunity to parasitize on the work of others, imposing new taxes on the minority engaged in creative work in small and medium-sized businesses. and unlike the oligarchs, it does not have the ability to "knock" tax breaks out of the government.

If we translate the situation into the language of Krylov's famous fable, we are not in a situation of a "dragonfly and an ant", but in a situation of a whole "anthill of dragonflies", after the end of the "summer" of high oil prices, looking with lust and hope from the windows at a lonely "ant" , which ensures the functioning of the public anthill. "Dragonflies" expecting that this "ant", engaged in creative work, will be forced to work harder and better in order to impose new taxes on its income on the maintenance of the parasitic majority.