Prospects for the administration of parafiscalities on the example of port fees

Abstract

On February 28, 2020, at a meeting of the Prime Minister of Russia with members of the Council of the Chamber of the Parliament, the problem of non-tax payments and the need to finalize and submit to the State Duma of the Russian Federation the draft law on mandatory payments having a quasi-tax character was again raised. To date, there are 167 types of non–tax payments paid by business entities, both credited to budgets of all levels, the so-called fiscal and parafiscal payments. This article is devoted to the study of the problems of regulation. Authors' goal is to evaluate possible solutions to the problem of administering parafiscal payments and identify the most optimal one. First of all, the paper notes the similarity of parafiscalities with taxes and fees on a number of grounds, and provides their comparative analysis. It is argued that the essential differences are non-access to the budget system, as well as the possibility of establishing at the subordinate level that the essence of the features are purely legal and do not affect the external perception on the part of payers. It is concluded that for the economic entities the current system is seen as double taxation of their activities. However, the paper criticizes not the very existence of parafiscalities, but the disunity of their regulation, the lack of unified mechanisms of state control, and the actual decodification of tax legislation. According to the author, it is necessary to strengthen state intervention in this area, as well as the creation of a separate federal law that would operate in parallel with the Tax Code. These measures will create new guarantees of the rights of taxpayers of parafiscalities, increase transparency and predictability of state regulation.