Russian President Vladimir Putin met with representatives of small, medium-sized and large businesses and discussed the development of entrepreneurship and improvement of legislation. He harshly criticised the idea of ··tax holidays for new small businesses. The proposal for declaring an amnesty for entrepreneurs that has been expected by many Putin called raw.
The meeting took place in a workshop of the Voronezhsintezkauchuk enterprise against the background of a poster “The Country Lives while its Plants are Working,” the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper writes. “We are meeting with yon on the eve of Entrepreneur Day, but despite the pre-holiday mood, we will talk about the problems and tasks to be fulfilled. One of such tasks was formulated by the Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) NGO - to create 25 million jobs. Some experts have assessed it as hard to accomplish,” the president recalled.
The RF president said that in the near future the government will take a decision on the monopolies’ tariffs growth rates - the authorities, according to him, believe that the tariffs’ growth should not exceed inflation. Talking about inflation, he added that he currently sees no monetary risks for it.
Head of Business Russia Alexander Galushka outlined the three main problems that entrepreneurs expect to be solved by the head of state, writes the Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily. “The shadow economy volume in Russia is 42 percent of GDP,” he said and proposed to redistribute the tax burden. The second proposal is the incentives for start-ups. In his view, tax holidays for new business projects could attract investors to them. The third proposal of the Business Russia head if differential tax treatment: the more depressed the region, the greater the tax benefits.
“As for the tax manoeuvre - the government is engaged in it,” the head of state said. “And I fully share the idea of public control. I ask the government to think about it, all our major companies should be transparent,” Putin said.
A regional business ombudsman Andrei Nazarov reported on the need for an amnesty for entrepreneurs. It was the key moment of Thursday’s meeting, the Kommersant daily writes. All those present without exception and even more those absent were waiting for the president's approval. Putin first drew attention to the fact that some of the speakers have, on the contrary, proposed to strengthen criminal responsibility for entrepreneurs. “Let’s agree that we will carefully consider your suggestions,” Putin stated. “You have even admitted yourselves that not all the groups of entrepreneurs to be amnestied have been determined. And there are also financial fraudsters, imprisoned for criminal export of dual-use materials that can be used to make weapons. The proposal is raw yet.” It will be finalised after consultations that Vladimir Putin promised to hold in the government and with experts.