President Boris Yeltsin has approved a redistribution of Russia's tax burden by raising income taxes on the rich and reducing the state's cut of corporate profits, the Kremlin said yesterday.
An approved amendment also frees from taxes some proceeds received under a rouble debt restructuring policy.
The presidential press service said in a statement that Mr Yeltsin had signed into law an amendment to raise the top personal income tax rate to 45 per cent from 35 per cent from January 1st, 2000. This rate applies to incomes of over 300,000 roubles (€11,100) a year.
Mr Yeltsin also approved a cut in corporate profit tax to 30 per cent from 35 per cent, which takes effect this month.
Russia has long pondered how to improve its tax system, which, unlike most Western nations, relies more heavily on corporate tax than income tax.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/VR3765MFOBH2NMV2QNICYDF67M.png)