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Strategies & Market Trends : Investment in Russia and Eastern Europe -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Real Man who wrote (345)	7/16/1998 1:45:00 PM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1301

Duma Continues Debate on Gov't Drafts. Deputies pass main part of tax code russiatoday.com Updated Thursday, July 16, 1998 at: NYC 11:39 a.m. London 4:39 p.m. Prague 5:39 p.m. Moscow 7:39 p.m. MOSCOW -- (Reuters) Russia's Duma, the opposition-dominated lower house of parliament, on Thursday began a second day of debate on austerity measures sought by the government to help win multibillion-dollar foreign loans. Deputies, keen to finish their extraordinary session on Thursday, decided to shorten their lunch break and extend the session by two hours to 8 p.m. (1600 GMT). The session got off to a bad start when a failure of their electronic voting system forced an unscheduled break. But deputies later passed, in final readings on Thursday, the general part of a landmark tax code and a cut in profit tax to 30 percent from 35 percent. Investors have long awaited the tax code, though the main part of the code chiefly sets out rights of tax payers, while three other parts previously passed in a first reading outline levels of allowable taxation by federal, regional and local authorities. The general part of the tax code also lists taxes that may be levied in Russia, sharply reducing Russia's mess of minor taxes, but the Duma also passed a law stating that the tax regime will go into effect only when the entire code is passed. The Duma also passed on Thursday a flat tax of 20 percent on small businesses whose turnover is difficult to calculate. The Duma has not yet passed any major tax hikes, which are an important part of the anti-crisis package of bills presented by the government and on which the International Monetary Fund and other major lenders will need to see progress before handing over $22.6 billion in stabilization aid pledges made on Monday. The tax code and bills approved by the Duma now face votes in the upper house Federation Council and then must be signed by President Boris Yeltsin to become law. The Duma has not scheduled review of other parts of the tax code, likely to be quite controversial, before its summer recess. Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko told a Cabinet session it was vital to have the package of laws at the core of the government's anti-crisis program approved by parliament by Monday, Itar-Tass news agency reported. "The main task now is to conclude the passing by the Duma and the Federation Council (upper chamber) of the package of draft laws which would secure the implementation of the government's economic program," Kiriyenko said. The crisis-ridden government is running against time as the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meets on July 20 to approve the first $6 billion tranche of the huge funding package to avert Russia's possible financial collapse. But the IMF's agreement is at least partly conditional on Duma approval of the government's austerity measures. The Federation Council meets on Friday and Saturday to consider the laws passed by the Duma before they go to President Boris Yeltsin for approval. Yeltsin has the constitutional right to introduce some measures by decree but he cannot change tax legislation -- the most ailing area of Russia's finances. ( (c) 1998 Reuters) Russia Today is a service of EIN Inc., and has no liability for content except as set forth in Terms & Conditions. Copyright 1995, 1996 EIN Inc. All rights reserved. BTW, These pages look their best in Netscape 2.0+ and Internet Explorer 3.0+. These pages designed by European Internet Network Inc. All rights reserved. Send comments to feedback. Report problems to webadmin@ein.cz.