Russia considers post-election tax hike to finance war in Ukraine

Russia’s Ministry of Finance did not respond to requests for comment.

In a speech to Russian parliament members and officials on February 29, he said he wanted “a fairer distribution of the tax burden to people with higher personal and corporate incomes.”

According to data from the Federal Statistical Service, the average annual salary in Russia in 2023 was 884,508 rubles.

The war is helping to accelerate the wage spiral, as military conscription exacerbates a severe labor shortage in the economy. Compensation for professionals such as engineers, mechanics, machine operators, welders, drivers and couriers rose 8% to 20% last year, according to data from local recruitment service SuperJobs obtained by Bloomberg.

Officials are likely to decide on the exact level of the tax increase in the summer, officials said.

Germany accuses Putin of trying to ‘destabilize’ with wiretaps

Putin, who has been in power as president or prime minister since the end of 1999, has exercised a level of domestic control that suppresses all forms of opposition and dissent and guarantees unquestionable results.

Victory in the March 15-17 contest would allow him to stay in the Kremlin until at least 2030, longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.

02:38

‘Heartbreaking tragedy’: Thousands gather to mourn Russian opposition leader Navalny

‘Heartbreaking tragedy’: Thousands gather to mourn Russian opposition leader Navalny

The poll was conducted at a time when confidence in former KGB agents was high.

Putin has been denounced as a pariah in the West, but the Kremlin says the vote will show Russians at home are united behind him and his attacks.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last year: “At the moment he has no rivals and there cannot be any.”

“No one can realistically compete with him,” he says.

A pro-Kremlin polling agency said on Monday that Putin could win 82% of the vote.

“We will not forget you!”: Russians mourn Navalny at Moscow funeral, rebel against Kremlin

Despite the ceremonial atmosphere, the Kremlin takes the electoral process seriously.

The Russian government is pouring money into campaigns aimed at increasing enthusiasm for President Putin.

The president toured the country and was photographed flying in the cockpit of a supersonic nuclear bomber, honing his tough-guy qualities.

“This election is very important for the Kremlin,” Chatham House Fellow Nikolai Petrov told Agence France-Presse.

“We need to prove that the Russian people overwhelmingly support President Putin” during the military offensive, he said.

The Kremlin aims to secure higher approval ratings than the previous four election victories against Putin.

According to official 2018 results, he received 77.5 percent of the vote.

Although there was no real competition, it was marred by widespread accusations of inflated ballots, fraud, and forced voting.

This year, Putin will officially face three other candidates. These candidates are Kremlin-sanctioned candidates designed to create the appearance of competition.

Anti-Putin politician Boris Nadezhdin was prevented from standing as tens of thousands of Russians backed his sudden candidacy on a pro-peace message.

The Kremlin had previously allowed liberal candidates to run in what analysts once called Russia’s “managed democracy.”

The term they use now is “authoritarianism,” or “totalitarianism.”

Voting will also be held in four regions of Ukraine that the Russian government claims it annexed in 2022, and in Crimea, which it took control of in 2014.

Putin warns West of risk of nuclear war, says Russia could attack Western targets

Petrov said the Russian government is no longer worried about trying to present voting as a legitimate democratic practice to the West, and even to Russian society.

“The most important thing… is that political elites should not doubt that President Putin is truly supported by the majority of the Russian people,” he said.

The remaining Russian rebels in exile and in prison still hope they can spoil the procession.

They hope anti-Putin Russians will form huge lines outside polling stations on the last day of voting.

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said voicing opposition could frighten Putin.

The Kremlin appears unfazed.

“We will hold the elections that the people need,” Peskov said earlier this month, dismissing those who argued that the vote was neither free nor fair.

“We do not tolerate any criticism of our democracy. Our democracy is the best.”

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, DPA