Evolution of the system of environmental taxes and charges in the Russian Federation

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the development of the system of taxes and fees on natural resources in the Russian Federation from 1991 to 2017. The authors note that within the period under review, the system of natural resource taxation has undergone significant changes related to the political and economic transformational processes in the Russian Federation. The last few years of modernization of the domestic economy have required a review of the attitude towards rental income, nature management and the environment as a whole. The last fact is confirmed by the fact that the current year is declared the year of ecology in our country. The aim of the study is to summarize information on the structural elements of the system of environmental taxes, fees and payments in the Russian Federation. The main focus of the authors’ attention is directed to mechanisms for regulating the consumption of natural resources by both natural and legal persons, as well as the need to restore natural potential after consumption within the framework of financial and production activities of economic entities in the Russian Federation. The main analytical materials of the study were the Russian legal framework and accompanying regulatory by-laws in the field of taxation, official explanations of the relevant authorities, accompanying analytical and statistical materials, publications of scientific and periodicals. In order to increase the objectivity of the conclusions, the following methods were used: the method of scientific abstraction, analysis, synthesis, comparison, modeling, grouping of data. In addition, an analysis of the scientific literature, the legal framework was applied. The result of the study was the identification of two basic categories of payments. Environmental taxes (mineral extraction tax, water tax, land tax, transport tax) and environmental charges (collection for use of wildlife and aquatic biological resources. One-time and regular payments for use and collection for participation in a tender (auction) for the use of subsoil, payment for the use of a water body, payment for the negative impact on the environment, recycling environmental charges, payments of the Citizens-legal nature: the rent for the use of forests, for the use of land). The mechanisms of their collection are presented in details. Based on the results of the study, the authors recommend clarifying and simplifying the mechanisms of legislative regulation of the whole set of natural resources payments and proposing the creation of a transparent and understandable management and control system for the careful exploitation of the ecological potential of the territories of the Russian Federation. An analysis of the current system of taxes and the corresponding system of payments made it possible to conclude that at the legislative level there is no single line on the regulation of nature-resource payments. Such randomness, according to the authors, is difficult to explain, since there is no reason why this or that form of tax, collection, civil-legal payment is not argued anywhere. It is noted that the exact concept of environmental tax is absent in the legislation of the Russian Federation, but this terminological phrase is used unofficially to designate some payment obligations.

Keywords

• fiscal policy
• natural resources
• environmental tax
• resource saving
• investment climate