Tyumen Province Set to Demand Compensation for Tax Revenue Losses Caused by the Gambling Ban
Gambling revenue losses was the main topic of discussion at a regular meeting of the Committee for budget, taxes and finance of the Tyumen province Duma.
Until recently tax revenues from gaming venues made up a substantial part of local budgets. The eradication of legal gambling in Russia and its impact on gambling businesses will cause severe budget restrictions and financial losses that will surely result from the “relocation” of the business to the gambling zones. Most of the funds received from gaming are already incorporated into regional budgets and appropriated for different social expenditures. Regional authorities, now reconsidering the earlier “passion for prohibition” when the local bureaucrats deemed obligatory to support either a complete ban or strict regulation on gambling activities as pledging allegiance to the “Party general line”), are feeling the lack of finances blunt regional improvement programs and projects. Discussions on how the deficits can be recovered are now underway.
A discussion over programs necessary to recover from the deficits suffered by the budget due to the ban has been initiated by the deputies of the legislative assembly of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. In the republic the gambling business - a tax-payer- was penalized quickly, some feel in the essence of Sharia Law. After some discussion and weighing of the variables it was deduced that the money was essential to the budget. The resulting proposal to have the regional tax on gaming entities re-categorized as a federal tax was sent to the chairpersons of the State Duma and to the Russian federal government. Under this initiative the revenues from the gambling zones would be collected by the federal government and distributed among the regions. The Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Khakassia and the Duma of the Ryazan province have already stated their support of the initiative of the State Council of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. It is expected that within the year 122,220,000 rubles will go into the budget of the Tyumen province from the gaming taxation. In 2009 the gaming business is estimated to bring 71,295,000 rubles to the provincial budget, while in 2010 then number will drop to zero. For this reason members of the Committee for budget, taxes and finance of the Tyumen province Duma feel inclined to recommend support for the initiative to take gambling tax receipts from all successful regions and distribute it equally among all. Or not equally...