On budget and anti-crisis measures

The next meeting of members of the Committee of the Supreme Council on Economic Policy, Budget and Finance opened a new working week at the Parliament. The work on the law-in-draft "On republican budget for 2016" is in non-stop mode. However, a law-in-draft submitted by the President in the regime of legislative necessity introduced their adjustments to it. It's called "On some additional government measures aimed at minimizing the negative impact of external economic factors". According to deputies, the document actually represents another set of disparate proposals, which this time had already come from the president. However, at the heart of the law-in-draft is almost all of the same measures that the government offered at the beginning of last year. These are financial, construction amnesty; expanding the list of goods that will be under state regulation of prices; halving the social tax rates in case of the creation of new jobs; free provision of land plots for individual housing construction; reduction of up to 5% of the rate of income tax for condominiums and other local measures.

In this regard, the head of the profile parliamentary committee, Alexander Martynov drew attention to the need to adopt a comprehensive anti-crisis program.

The most discussion during the meeting led to a proposal contained in the law-in-draft to extend the list of goods that are expected to extend the state regulation of prices. It came about the trade allowance, and customs duties. It is reflected in the retail prices at which goods are the same foods sold to the final consumer, which means that the purchasing power of the population, its standard of living. Deputies of the Committee are convinced that higher prices contribute to unreasonably high tariffs imposed by regulations. The 1st deputy SCC Chairman Svetlana Klimenkova but protectionist measures to support domestic producers as justification for their establishment drew attention to the fiscal component of customs duties. According to the presented data, in 2015 from the collection of special duties the budget received 23 million rubles. The head of the parliamentary committee did not agree with this approach.

Despite the many questions of the deputies to initiated by the President anti-crisis law-in-draft it was unanimously decided - to recommend the deputies to adopt it in the first reading. At the same time people's deputies have repeatedly confirmed the need for an integrated approach to the development of anti-crisis program, therefore, they suppose, work on it should be continued. The head of the Supreme Council of the relevant committee did not rule out the probability of inclusion in it, and the proposals that have been acquired by people's deputies in the last convocation.

The main financial document - Budget 2016 - is scheduled for the plenary session on March 30 the second reading. As we already reported, when adopting the draft national budget for the current year by the Supreme Council and the Government together 250 amendments were considered. This 200 fell to parliamentarians and 50 - the executive authority. But, as it turned out, all the i's were not dotted. In preparing the document for the second reading another hundred amendments received. They are considered at a meeting of parliamentary committee last Thursday, continued today. As with previous amendments, most of the current focus on greater transparency in use of public finances, the need for approval of spending on government programs, such as road construction program, capital investment, the Environmental Fund expenditures, on the legislative level.

Deputies until March 30, have a lot of work, so two meetings of the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Policy, Budget and Finance, as well as a number of workshops were scheduled this week.