Interregional inequality in budget revenues per capita and its decomposition by source: the case of pre-pandemic Russia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study identifies the sources of convergence/divergence of Russian regions in per capita budget revenues in the period 2010–19. Budget inequality is assessed using the Theil–Bernoulli index and then decomposed by stages of budgeting and sources. The research shows that inequality, initially formed at the production stage, more than doubles at the stage of tax collection due to the progressiveness of the tax rate in relation to the tax base in the Russian regions. The tax distribution system makes the largest contribution to the convergence of Russian regions in terms of per capita budget revenues, while the contribution of the budget transfer system decreases over time due to its ever growing deviation from the real position of the regions.