Finance Ministry of Belarus does not see possibilities for reducing VAT rate

There are no grounds for reducing the rate of the value added tax I the country, deputy Minister of Finance Dzmitry Kraiko believes.

We remind that the value added tax (20%) is much higher in Belarus than in other countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, BelaPAN informs.

In Russia the VAT rate is 18%, while it is 12% in Kazakhstan. Belarusian business associations proposed to cut the rate of the VAT in the country in order to create equal conditions in the Eurasian Union.

“It is true, the rate of the VAT in Russia and Kazakhstan is considerably lower. But the existing difference is preconditioned by objective reasons, as our partners have earnings from gas and oil,” the article by the deputy Minister of Finance Dzmitry Kraiko reads. It was published in the recent issue of the magazine of the Ministry of Finance, Finansy, Uchyot, Audit.

The deputy minister attracted attention to the fact that Russia’s oil and gas revenues give about 10.5% of the gross domestic product, and 12.3% in Kazakhstan.

“Objectively, figures of Belarus are lower. In 2014 1.3% of the gross domestic product was received due petroleum earnings. In 2015 the expected revenues are higher, 4.3%, but the prediction is made considering the export taxes for oil products, which had already been transferred to our budget,” he said.

He also noted that the VAT is “the main source of government revenues” for Belarus, more than 37% of the budget income, and in Russia about 20% of the budget is replenished due to the VAT, while it is about 14 in Kazakhstan.

“Considering the current economic situation, which is a result of external factors among other things, there are no reserves for today to reduce rates of the main taxes (including the VAT,” he stressed.

In January-February 2015, according to BelaPAN, the state budget received 9.4 bn from the VAT, which is about 39% of the total budget income.