Government to take $1,290 from every Belarusian

It is the size of the income tax and excise duty increase.

The average Belarusian employee will pay the budget additional 1,165,000 Belarusian rubles ($116) in 2015 due to the raised income tax rate and excise duty rate. Every employee will have to pay 13 million rubles ($1,290) as income tax and excise duties, Belorusskie Novosti writes.

The increase in the income tax rate from 12% to 13% is provided for by the bill on amendments to the Tax Code of Belarus. The bill also proposes to raise the excise duty rate on all groups of excisable goods. In particular, excise duties on alcohol, including spirits, will rise by 10% and on tobacco products – by 15-30%. Three price segments will be preserved that will allow increasing tax burden on more expensive cigarettes. Excise duties on car fuel will be raised by an a average of 10% with different rates depending on the emission standard. The increase for other groups of excisable goods will be equal to the estimated inflation rate, 12.5%. The excise rate on beer will be kept on the level of 2014 to stabilise the financial state of breweries. It was said by deputy minister of finance Uladzimir Amaryn at a meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers.

Simple calculations show that additional 5,297.4 billion rubles will be obtained, which is an average of 1,165,000 rubles from every employed citizen. A total of about 58,896 billion rubles will be taken from economy as excise duties and income tax.

After the increase in the income tax rate, the state plans to collect 30,864.5 billion rubles in 2014. The 1% growth will give additional 2,572 billion rubles to the budget. It means that an average employee will pay additional 565.830 rubles of income tax.

Revenues to the budget may reach 4,821.3 billion rubles as a result of the raised excise duty on tobacco (except for imported tobacco products) by 15-30%. According to the National Statistics Committee, a share of smokers of 16 years old and older was 25.9%, or 2,330,000 people at the beginning of 2013. Every smoker will pay the state about 2.07 million rubles of excise duties in 2015, which is 380,000 rubles more than in 2014.

Tax burden on car owners will also grow in 2015. Excise duties on fuel will be raised by an average of 10% with different rates depending on the emission standard. It gives 9,467 billion rubles of revenues to the budget. As of January 1, 2013, 3,817,792 vehicles were registered in Belarus. So, an average motorist will have to pay 2.5 million rubles of fuel excise duties, which is 225,431 rubles more than in 2014.

The government plans to collect about 25,469.6 billion rubles of excise duties and 33,436.5 billion rubles of income tax in 2015. It is an average of 12,956,732 rubles (1.291 dollars) from every employee. The Ministry of Finance thinks this and other measures will allow securing stability of the country's tax system and strengthening the budget stability in 2015.