Summer has not yet begun, and Medvedev's "cunning plan" with a tax maneuver has already cracked, like the Klitschko Bridge, and, despite agreements and subsidies of 450 billion rubles, oil workers raised wholesale prices for gasoline by 20% at once, followed by them will go up and retail.
Another sharp jump in gasoline prices was reported by the Independent Fuel Union (NTS), which warned that from April 15 to May 15, prices rose by an average of 20%, according to stock exchange reports on the St. Petersburg International Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange (SPIMEX): AI-92 - by 23%, AI-95 - by 18.5% and diesel fuel - by 2.5%; in the Saratov region: AI-92 - by 11.2%, AI-95 - by 10.4%. The growth occurred despite the agreement between the state and the oil industry on freezing prices. And this is far from the limit - according to forecasts, by July prices will increase by another 13%. President of the NTS Pavel Bazhenov warned Deputy Prime Minister Kozak about the impending trend. Bazhenov noted in his letter that if no measures are taken, the "wave" of 2018 could repeat itself.
Moreover, on the air of the Tsargrad channel, he openly accused our creative “successful” government of this. According to him, in light of the fact that the Ministry of Finance is stuck on the issue of adjusting the damping mechanism, it is virtually impossible to avoid an increase in gasoline prices. Therefore, such a situation is observed on the market. “If we correct the damping component, then there could be a precarious balance in the market. And the Russian Government is responsible for the current situation - and first of all the Ministry of Finance, which needs to earn more money for the budget,”Bazhenov said in the Pronko. Economy . At the same time, the head of the Independent Fuel Union stressed, everyone understands that the situation after the hikes in wholesale prices in retail will be unstable by July.
“Wholesale is growing rapidly, we see dynamics, even more serious dynamics than it was in the same period in 2018. We remember what this led to, so we are ringing the bells,”he said, noting that in any case the rise in fuel prices will fall on the shoulders of consumers. The main complaint from the oil industry is that the government promised money to keep prices down, but instead they were slapped to raise excise taxes and export duties.
The FAS also registered price increases. But the FAS has already blamed the oil companies and found out that they did not fulfill the demand of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak to freeze fuel prices on the Russian market. The government has extended a three-month price stabilization agreement until July 1. The decision was made at the end of March. Refineries were supposed to increase the supply of gasoline and diesel fuel by 2% compared to the level of 2017. However, the largest producers did not fulfill the requirement and instead increased their exports.
RIA Katyusha has already talked about the situation on the gasoline market, where we have been experimenting with a “tax maneuver” for the second year. To understand what we are talking about and what does the "tax maneuver" have to do with it, let us explain in simple language. Let's imagine that a liter of oil costs 100 rubles on world markets. Until the spring of last year, corporations had a choice - to sell oil at refineries within the country or abroad. When selling abroad, the corporation had to pay the state from 100 rubles a duty for the export of petroleum products 59%, or 59 rubles from 100 - and this is in addition to other taxes and deductions. The amount became much less, and the benefits were not so transcendental, therefore many preferred to invest in the production of gasoline at home. The "tricky plan" was to cut the duty down to 30%, and to double the mineral extraction tax (MET), no matter where you sell them - even eat it yourself. And if you don't need to choose anymore, as well as bother with processing gasoline, then it is easier to sell abroad, and here the prices equalize or not sell at all.
The meaning of this was understandable and poorly concealed - the Government decided to replenish the budget from export revenues and increase domestic prices to world prices, however, slightly moderate the appetites of gasoline producers by reducing excise taxes. It's just that, as the former Deputy Prime Minister Dvorkovich, who has now left after the arrest of Abyzov's friend, who was in charge of the fuel and energy complex, said, the oilmen rushed too sharply, while the rise in prices to world prices was planned gradually. “If there were clear work (during the change of government in May), clear management of expectations, it would be possible to simply distribute this accumulated potential over a much longer period of time, to smooth out the price dynamics,” he said last year.
But, as we have already noted, the "cunning plan" failed, prices jumped higher than the Dvorkovichs and Medvedevs would have liked, and now they have to convince the oilmen not to drive everything abroad. So, on April 24, the Ministry of Finance of Russia announced that oil companies would receive compensation from the National Welfare Fund in the amount of 400-450 billion rubles to keep fuel prices down. That is, as a result of the "tax maneuver", the government is forced to pay from the benefits received back to the corporations, completely sweeping away the meaning of the "cunning plan" But Kozak reported that he had agreed not to raise gasoline prices until the end of the second quarter, that is, until the harvest. And then it turns out that either the Ministry of Finance did not pay, or the money was not spent on the production of gasoline, but prices have already exploded,and now if the Government does not want petrol riots (a price increase of 20% is, for understanding, in the region of + 8.4 rubles per liter of AI-92 and 9 rubles per liter of AI-95, which can cause unrest more powerful than the garbage reform), it will either pay the oil companies from the National Welfare Fund, where they seem to be saving money for a "breakthrough", or it can roll up its agreements into a tube and further along a known route.
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Moreover, it is not at all a fact that, even having agreed on compensation, the companies will not raise prices, because their “golden time” is coming - harvesting, where farmers will buy fuel at all at any price or will be left without grain. This increase is a usual seasonal phenomenon, everyone knows about it, and despite the annual promises to sort it out, all responsible persons are satisfied with this situation, especially since the Government often subsidizes the difference in the cost of fuel and lubricants to farmers, that is, it again subsidizes oil companies. only now indirectly. But this year, it turns out, they will receive two subsidies at once, and even make good money on car enthusiasts. Then it is not clear what Kozak was negotiating about and why the state money did not go as intended?
The issue could be solved once and for all by the law on the regulation of gasoline prices, which the State Duma tried to adopt in early April in the bill No. 527071-7 "On Amendments to the Federal Law" On the Fundamentals of State Regulation of Trade Activities in the Russian Federation "in terms of state regulation prices for gasoline and diesel fuel "was successfully" failed "by the votes of" United Russia "in its first reading. As a result, we have what we have, but Dmitry Anatolyevich can again boast of what a cunning plan he came up with.
