All income from alcohol production excises will be transferred to regional budgets - FAS

UFA, 24 April 2017. /Bashinform News Agency, Alim Faizov/. The Federal Antimonopoly Service is proposing a new scheme for redistribution of excises from alcohol producers in the regions. According to it, the amount of fees is still divided into two parts, but already in a new proportion. 40 percent of collected excises should be left in the regional budget, and 60 percent distributed in proportion to sales in the field, the FAS believes. Thus, all income from alcohol production excises will be directed to regional budgets. Now only half is given to the subjects, the Izvestia newspaper reports.

"Such a mechanism will allow economic methods to stimulate efforts of regional authorities to reduce the share of counterfeit products," the FAS said in a statement.

The Ministry of Economic Development informs that the FAS proposal is supported conceptually, but "a significant transition period should be established".

Until the end of 2016, 40 percent of the collected excises for strong alcohol were distributed between regions depending on the volume of production, and the remaining 60 percent were directed to the federal budget. Since early 2017, a different scheme is used in Russia, according to which regional budgets receive half of alcohol excises. Of these, 80 percent are revenues from alcohol excises paid by producers in the region, and the remaining 20 percent is redistributed by the Federal Treasury in proportion to the volume of alcohol sales in the regions.

In early March, a group of senators, led by the Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council, Yevgeny Bushmin, prepared an appropriate bill on amendments to the Budget Code. Parliamentarians suggested distributing fees from alcohol producers to local budgets exclusively in proportion to the sales of alcohol since January 1, 2018. The document awaits a government response, after which it can be submitted to the State Duma.