Проблематика теории и практики налога на сверхприбыль в России и за рубежом

Abstract

The article deals with the problems of introducing a tax on excess profits in the Russian Federation in 2023. The excess profit tax is not a novelty of Russian lawmakers. The first such tax was introduced in the UK in 1915 during the First World War. The article examines the foreign experience of introducing the tax. The world practice indicates that the tax is introduced in emergency situations. Foreign countries have repeatedly resorted to replenishing their budgets through taxes on excess profits. The article highlights the experience in Denmark and Sweden, which introduced a tax on excess profits from the sale of weapons. It provides a brief historical background on the introduction of the tax in Australia and Norway for industrialists working in the oil and gas industry, mining, technology and pharmaceutical sectors. The historical documents of the US Congress are considered, and the speeches of leading economists and politicians who advocated and opposed the introduction of a tax in the United States in 1980. Further, based on the analysis of the revenues of the Russian budget, the need to introduce such a tax in the Russian Federation is justified. A forecast is made of the possible size of budget replenishment when this tax is introduced. The forecast is based on the analysis of annual reports of leading Russian companies for 2020 and 2021, published in open sources. The analysis made it possible to highlight the negative and positive aspects of the introduction of a tax on excess profits in our country. Separately, the author of the article considers the issue of the specifics of introducing a tax on excess profits in the Russian Federation, focusing on the fact that the oil and gas sector has been removed from the scope of the tax, which in the experience of foreign countries bears the main burden when paying the tax on excess profits. Analytical calculations are given, based on open annual reports of oil and gas companies, on the payment of tax if the oil and gas sector were included in the law on tax on excess profits. The arguments of opponents and supporters of the exclusion of the oil and gas sector are considered. The argument of official sources is given. The conclusion states that the possibility of making an interim payment for enterprises actually reduces the tax to 5 percent, instead of the declared 10 percent. And world experience shows that the tax rates on excess profits are significantly higher from 35 to 80 percent. Perhaps more attention should be paid to world experience, and the tax rate on excess profits should be increased.