Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rolled out a new, 13 billion ruble ($441 million) plan to support small business owners in a speech Tuesday, only to be intercepted by a Moscow region entrepreneur who asked for more.
The measures, if approved by lawmakers, will more than double the spending that the federal budget earmarked to help the sector this year, Putin told a small business conference.
Putin unveiled novelties such as loans for high-tech companies and a requirement for the government to spend at least 5 billion rubles on goods and services from small and medium sized businesses. Another portion of the funding would go toward supporting exports of high-tech products, he said.
In nonfinancial proposals, Putin said the government would stop requiring that businesses regularly extend their licenses.
“Licenses can be indefinite,” he said at a conference organized by Opora, a lobby group for small and medium sized business. “There’s no need to pass through this protracted, burdensome and sometimes humiliating procedure every five years.”
Opora chairman Sergei Borisov sounded thrilled at the prospect.
“This is a huge breakthrough,” he told The Moscow Times on the sidelines of the conference.
Conference attendee Sergei Zaburniyagin, acting director of the 999! chain of shopping malls in the Moscow region, said he often found himself having to plead with officials for a license extension.
“You go in and do this,” he said, offering a deep bow.
As other longer-term policies, Putin named property-tax holidays of up to three years for companies that seek to develop technology to improve energy efficiency. Another measure would lift the profit tax on health care and education businesses, he said.
The government will soon submit bills to that effect to the State Duma, so the changes come into effect next year, he said.
The parliament typically passes Kremlin- and government-backed bills by large majorities.
Zaburniyagin walked over to Putin as the prime minister was leaving the conference room and spoke for a few minutes as security officials looked on.
The businessman said afterward that he asked Putin for more action to help small business. Zaburniyagin told Putin that municipalities should keep a greater share of taxes from local businesses, compared with what they get now, so that mayors see a reason to improve the business climate.
The Pushkino resident said his town and the surrounding municipal area collected 5 billion rubles in taxes every year, but only 350 million rubles qualify as local budget revenues.
“Our municipalities are like the Gobi Desert,” Zaburniyagin said. “Give them a drop of water and they will blossom.”
Putin said the government would work on the issue, the businessman said.