Taxes collected in Crimea cover only 5-7% of budget expenses, says finance minister of republic
Simferopol, May 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – At present, the amount of taxes collected in Crimea only covers 5-7% of the expenses of the budget, and the remaining 95% is allocated from the budget of the Russian Federation, according to Finance Minister of Crimea Vladimir Levandovsky.
"We have a serious situation with the collection of taxes. I will say honestly that today we secure the expense target using our own funds that we collect on our territory at a level of 5-7% a month. The remaining 95% is financed thanks to financial aid from the Finance Ministry of Russia. This is unacceptable, but we should take very serious steps to replenish out budget," he said, speaking at a meeting of the presidium of the state council of the self-proclaimed Republic of Crimea on Tuesday.
He said that the measures that taxes collected in the republic secure at least 40-50% of the expense target of the budget should be taken.
"We propose passing laws at each session [of the Crimean parliament] that will be able to adapt to the state we have today: the links are broken with Ukraine and the links with Russia have not yet started working, and our taxpayers do not understand how to work," Levandovsky said.
"Today, we give the green light to our taxpayers. By June 1, 2014 there are no fines if they do not pay taxes. We should start paying taxes now. We plan that from June enterprises will start working and start replenishing the budget," he said.
