Taxes:
The Russian Tax Code is the primary tax legislation for Russia. It has 2 parts: the first deals with procedure and the second deals with actual tax rates. The Code is subject to change according to legislation and new laws. The Code is geared towards all federal and local taxes but excludes tariffs. The Russian Ministry of Finance estimates that revenues regulated by the
Tax Code will account for 68 percent of federal revenue in 2008 with a majority of other revenues coming from oil and natural gas corporations.
Prior to the establishment of The Code, Russian taxation was VERY unorganized. Tax laws were made up of a patchwork of laws decreed by the USSR and many other local laws. In February of 1995, Boris Yeltin proposed to re-centralize the tax system. When the first draft was presented to the Duma in 1996 there were many complications and the Bill did not end up passing. Finally in 1998, the Duma ended up passing a new draft of the Code with a 312 to 18 vote. Part on was officially enacted on August 6 1998.
Part two, enacted under Vladmir Putin in 2000, intended to reestablish the actual tax rates because at this point the citizen was still paying old rates. It established a fixed 13% income tax and attempted to abolish sales based taxes by getting rid of municipal housing tax, the road tax, and retail sales tax
Russia is a constitutional federation with a preseidennt and prime minister. There are three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. However, Russia's government wasn't always this simple. While Russia was part of the Soviet Union, there was communism and all aspects of the economy were centrally controlled.
For the extent of the existence of the Soviet Union, Russia's economy was strictly controlled. The government controlled all aspects of investment, production, and consumption. This central planning system was based solely on the decisions of the Communist party. The idea was that if every unit of the Union met or exceeded their duties, the supply and demand would balance. The government's role was to ensure that these expectations were met.
Early in the 1990's, the disintegration of the centrally planned government system left Russia to figure out how to operate without the extensive government control. As Gorbachev took power in 1985 he began to shift the economic focus to intensive investment in specific industries that were the most crucial to Russia's economy. These included machine-building and metal working. He also focused on increasing labor productivity. However, his planning system was neither centrally planned nor a market economy. So by the end of 1991 during the official dissolution of the USSR, the economy the was headed into a downward spiral.
Yeltsin along with other leaders created a plan to stabilize restructure Russia's economy. By 1996, there was some success but still many problems left unresolved.
Today, Russia's government still regulates prices on certain goods and it is very difficult to get an accurate reading of their economic standings. The Russian Ministry of Economic Development oversees many of the strategic plans the government employs.
http://www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/russia/ECONOMY.html
