Acting Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Mikhail Degtyarev said on the air of the Guberniya TV channel that the state budget “has not had people's money for a long time”. The press secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Alexander Yushchenko, in an interview with the Daily Storm, noted that the state budget is not someone's private shop, but people's money, which is formed from taxes and oil and gas revenues, which are the national property. In his opinion, these funds should be spent on social development.
“The budget is formed, among other things, from tax money. This is not someone's private shop, some state corporation. This is the people's money, not the money of a private shop. Today, levies are increasing more and more. They only collect money from people, but at the same time the budget is cut for all social programs. We are categorically against this. We believe that the revenue side of the budget should be increased for social development - Alexander Yushchenko told the Daily Storm.
The press secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation stressed that the state budget is partially formed from oil and gas revenues, which are the national property. Therefore, these funds must be considered folk.
“Including it is formed from oil and gas revenues. And this is a national property, as we believe. The budget should be formed from the revenue side, which, first of all, should cover social security. Of course, this is the people's money. And in the Soviet Union there was definitely people's money - added Yushchenko.
Degtyarev previously commented on statements that “people's money” would be spent on the construction of infrastructure projects in the region. According to him, in Russia "there has been no people's money for a long time."
“There is the Russian government, which manages the budget on behalf of the president. It is important. We love, you know: hi-wai, people's money … People's money, yes, but who has the right to dispose of it? The one who is elected by the people, that is, the president. And the Duma, which claims, is also elected by the citizens of Russia. Therefore, this is not necessary, the people's money has long been gone. There is budget money. They are still folk when they pay taxes - explained Degtyarev.
The press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov did not comment on the issue of the rejection of the expression "people's money" and the use of the phrase "budget money".
On September 16, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the Russian government had found a way to save money by cutting costs on the arms procurement program and indexing the salaries of officials. The minister specified that this is required by balancing the deficit state budget. Siluanov also noted that the total reduction in budgetary allocations in 2021 will amount to 927 billion rubles, in 2022 - 970 billion and about 900 billion rubles in 2023.
In October, they also decided to reduce spending on research and development. In 2021, 486.1 billion rubles will be allocated for these purposes, which is 6.3% less than planned before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, 514.4 billion rubles will be allocated.
At the end of September, the government submitted to the State Duma a draft federal budget for 2021 and a planning period of 2022-2023. The project envisages maintaining the budget deficit for the entire three-year period due to increased costs amid COVID-19. According to the forecast, the Russian economy will grow by 3.3% in 2021, 3.4% in 2022, and 3% in 2023. According to preliminary estimates, in 2020 budget revenues were at the level of 17.8 trillion rubles, expenditures - 22.5 trillion rubles, and the deficit - about 4.7 trillion rubles.
