The Russian authorities have found another source of replenishment of the budget in the face of sanctions: it is proposed to impose a new tax on the coal industry, which has been seriously affected by sanctions. By introducing an export duty on all types of coal, the authorities expect to replenish the budget by about 100 billion rubles a year. Kommersant writes about this, citing sources in the government.
The idea of taxing another industry with additional fees was traditionally put forward by First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov, who had previously proposed taxing the chemical industry and fertilizer producers, as well as "metallurgists who have slammed the state" . The official has regularly lobbied for the introduction of new taxes on the country's anchor industries since 2018.
The final version of the new contribution has not yet been presented, the option of introducing cut-off prices, as well as an export duty, is being considered. Sources say that after the introduction of the new tax, coal miners will lose about $9-10 per ton. The reason for the introduction of taxes is simple: the Russian budget under sanctions simply cannot cope with the volume of expenditures and loses its usual income. Under these conditions, the Ministry of Finance was instructed to present all possible options for increasing revenues, and proposals should be presented to the President of Russia next week.
The coal industry is one of the most affected as a result of the sanctions confrontation with the West. After the introduction of the European embargo on coal on August 10, Russian companies lost one of their largest sales markets. Now they urgently have to reconfigure export flows in favor of China, India, Turkey and other countries that were not previously a priority for Russia. Sanctions and domestic complications have pushed some coal plants to the verge of bankruptcy, as the government had previously warned.
The restructuring of logistics increases the costs of Russian companies, in addition, in order to conquer new markets, Russian coal miners have to offer their products at a discount. Finally, another factor that affects the income of the coal industry is the too strong ruble exchange rate. And recently, the unpreparedness of the Russian transport infrastructure for the “turn to the East” has been added to the problems, because of which many enterprises in the western part of Russia have encountered difficulties in exporting coal to China. A whole range of problems is already reflected in the statistics: according to the Ministry of Energy, by the end of 2022, coal production in Russia will fall by 6%.