Aksenov described what a SEZ in Crimea should look like: everything that was done before in Russia is not suitable
Moscow - Simferopol, September 3 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksenov considers the main task of the Crimean authorities to be the creation of a special economic zone to attract private investment for a period of 25-50 years. The SEZ should include a reduced income tax, value added tax, and the abolition of import VAT for the tourism sector, agriculture, industry and construction. Aksenov considers the experience of creating similar zones in the Russian Federation unsuccessful and proposes starting “from scratch.”
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In his opinion, the SEZ will provide a boost to many industries and services, freeing the federal budget from additional burdens. Aksyonov wrote this in an article published today in Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
“The development of a bill on the creation of a special economic zone in the republic has already begun,” Aksenov reports, “The SEZ is being formed in special, non-standard conditions associated with the application by Western countries of a regime of sanctions and direct bans on the use, in particular, of transport and other infrastructure of the peninsula.”
“It is important for us to construct a truly operational, I would say, barrier-free model for the functioning of the SEZ, based on minimal administration, simplification of bureaucratic procedures and maximum freedom for businesses, especially medium and small ones,” he explains. “In this regard, significant benefits - reduced income tax, value added tax, abolition of import VAT - will be provided for the tourism sector, agriculture, industry and construction.”
According to Aksenov, today there is a discussion about the duration of the special economic zone. There are different opinions: five, ten and twenty-five years. “We are in favor of this status being valid for at least 25 years. And perhaps up to 50 - so that business sees a long-term perspective for itself,” writes the Prime Minister of Crimea.
In Russia, a number of SEZs did not live up to expectations due to a conflict of interests between the state and small and medium-sized businesses, and the excessive focus of tax and financial authorities on short-term fiscal needs, Aksenov believes. “And, as a rule, it is small and medium-sized companies that make up the bulk of SEZ residents,” he notes. In addition, the development strategy for many zones initially did not include clear ideas of how and by what means results would be achieved, Aksenov continues. “In this regard, Crimea is still a tabula rasa, a “blank slate”, on which something meaningful has yet to be written, to create a new type of economic-territorial entity for our country,” writes the Crimean prime minister.
Aksyonov described what the SEZ in Crimea should look like: everything that was done before in Russia is no good.