Savina O.N., Zhazhin M.A. The Problem of Evaluating the Efficiency of Tax Incentive Tools: Analysis of Current Practices

Abstract: The article is devoted to identifying problems that complicate the process of monitoring of the implementation of tax rebates and other tax incentives and tools to assess their efficiency. The questions about the impact of tax incentive tools are relevant throughout the entire period of the operation of tax system of the Russian Federation. These problems became especially acute during the period of transition of the country to innovative economy and were further developed under the conditions of sanctions being imposed on Russia which has caused economic volatility and created the need to develop incentive mechanisms to support domestic producers, representatives of small businesses and the poor. There is not such a great variety of tax incentive tools in the tax system of the Russian Federation today. The main tools being used include tax rebates which impact assessment is limited to the evaluation of budget losses.Methodology. The analysis of existing methodologies for evaluating the efficiency of tax incentives has allowed to reveal the specifics of their practical application in the Russian Federation constituents and municipal units. Conclusions. The authors conclude that the existing regional techniques lack the methods of objective evaluation of the efficiency of tax rebates. Thus, there is a need to improve existing methodologies and develop a unified method that would contain a single system of efficiency criteria and evaluate not only tax rebates but also tax incentives and other instruments; not only for the state but also for business. For this purpose, the authors test the method of evaluating the efficiency of tax incentives and preferences developed in 2014 by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation together with the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, for example, tools such as the unified agricultural tax and bonus depreciation. Selection of tools for evaluating efficiency of tax incentives is determined by the goals and objectives of the government dictated by contemporary realities and aimed at the development of import substitution policies and modernization of the fixed assets. Despite the fact that this technique has not yet received a practical implementation, the authors analyze its efficiency in order to define its advantages and drawbacks. The authors conclude that this technique needs to be further improved. 

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