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To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (15492)	8/7/1998 9:11:00 PM
From: Broken_Clock	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116766

great strategy... cut off your finger and sell it so you can buy bandaids to fix the stub!

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (15492)	8/7/1998 9:58:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116766

Russia targets oil companies in tax drive 04:59 p.m Aug 07, 1998 Eastern By Peter Graff MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia took its boldest step yet in its battle to collect taxes Friday, partially shutting off the export pipelines of two oil giants and promising more tough measures to come. The government announced Friday it had cut export rights to Russia's fifth and eighth largest oil companies, Sidanko and Onako, by about a third. The government says the two companies owe it billions of rubles in unpaid taxes. Tax chief Boris Fyodorov forecast a fresh wave of swoops on suspected tax dodgers, and promised to keep revenues increasing month by month so the government could stay afloat. ''We're planning a large number of new actions on both individuals and corporations, though I won't name names yet,'' the former finance minister told a news conference Friday marking his first two months in charge of the State Tax Service. Russia's oil companies have been badly hurt by collapsing world prices and say that increasingly harsh tax collection measures are driving them to the wall. A vice president of Sidanko, Lyudmila Pirozhnikova, called the latest move a ''political act'' and ''a provocation'' in an interview on Ekho Moskvy radio. Onako told Reuters it was ready to pay. ''I believe in the middle of August the problem will be solved,'' the company's vice-president Irik Uzbekov said. Thursday the government threatened to seize non-essential assets of Sidanko, Onako and another oil major, Eastern Oil, starting with the apartments and cars of the companies' senior executives. The government has, however, promised to set up a commission to study making the tax regime more flexible as losses on the world oil market continue to mount. Fyodorov said tax collection rose nearly 10 percent from June to July, showing progress in efforts to end the chronic under-funding that pushed the Russian state to the brink of bankruptcy and forced Moscow last month to seek a $22.6 billion bail-out led by the International Monetary Fund. But he added he was a long way from his goal of matching revenues to the government's budgeted needs -- taxes this year have covered only about half what ministers planned to spend. Fyodorov estimated that the state received only about one ruble in four that should, legally, be paid in income taxes. He urged lower tax rates to encourage honesty and avoid penalizing growth, warning: ''We have to understand that if there is no economic growth and if there are enormous economic problems, we can hardly expect tax revenues to grow.'' Tax collection has been at the center of Russia's economic crisis, with the government unable to pay its bills to firms, and firms unable to pay the state or each other. Many firms have resorted to withholding wages from their employees. Russia has promised to beef up tax collection and cut spending as part of a reform deal to clinch the IMF loans last month. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited