Each new year in Russia is rich in surprises, many of which do not add positive emotions to the population. Not so long ago, Russia raised the cost of the excise tax on gasoline. After that, the price of gasoline began to rise steadily. So, since 2011, the excise tax per liter of fuel has increased by one Russian ruble. As a result, the excise tax per ton of petroleum products increased by almost 1,300 rubles on average. That is, excise taxes have increased by about one third.
In 2008, the Government of the Russian Federation approved an FTP (federal target program) entitled "Development of the transport system of Russia (2010-2015)", aimed at modernizing the transport structure, including the modernization of roads. The intentions of the program were large-scale: the officials of the Ministry of Transport of Russia planned considerable investments and hoped over the years to spend an impressive amount on the repair of roads in Mother Russia - 4.65 trillion rubles. But a crisis suddenly came to the country, and the servants of the people had to radically revise their grandiose plans.
For example, in 2010, 507 billion rubles were going to be spent on repair and construction of roads, but only 234 were allocated, of which 186 billion were spent on repairs. And 2011, according to the Minister of Transport I. E. Levitin, could have become a failure - there is practically no money to modernize the transport infrastructure, 57 billion rubles can be carved out of the budget with difficulty. This amount would not even be enough to repair roads, so what can we dream of building new ones.
However, the government found an original way out of the difficult situation. In 2011, the cost of highways was planned in the amount of 455 billion rubles, which were nowhere to be found.
As a result, the federal road fund was made the main source of funds, the volume of which was supposed to be 387 billion rubles, and the fund should be replenished at the expense of Russian motorists.
In the recent past, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei B. Ivanov said that it is possible to resolve the issue of modernizing roads only on the basis of the principle "whoever drives our wonderful roads, let him pay for their condition." That is, since car owners are not satisfied with the condition of the road surface, which they themselves destroy, driving around in their vehicles, then let them participate in its repair. This is how the aforementioned road fund was created, which will be replenished at our expense. Ivanov proposed the following simple scheme: to increase the excise tax on gasoline, and to abolish the transport tax. The reasoning is as follows: let those who travel more and more often pay. As a result, the excise tax was increased, but the transport tax was not canceled, but simply left this issue at the mercy of the regions.
The Government of the Russian Federation is confident that all funds from the increase in excise taxes will be spent on road repairs. Moreover, thanks to the funds coming from the increase in excise taxes on gasoline, in the very near future most of the federal highways will be put in order.
And here is how experts assess this situation. “The indexation of excise taxes will affect the cost of fuel,” said Evgeny Mikryukov, Deputy General Director for Commercial Affairs of OOO LUKOIL-Uralnefteprodukt, on the current situation.
