Features of taxation of rational environmental management as a factor of sustainable growth in Russia

Kilevnik Mariya Nikolaevna Rostov State University of Economics 344002, Russia, Rostov region, Rostov On Don, Bolshaya Sadovaya str., 69/47 zimalight18@gmail.com

Zima Danil Aleksandrovich Student, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia (MGIMO) 76 Prospekt Vernadskogo str., Moscow, 119454, Russia, Moscow region danwinter12@gmail.com

In modern tax systems, a separate aspect highlights the directions of tax regulation of the use of natural resources, providing a fiscally significant effect on budget revenues at all levels and increasing the environmental potential of rational environmental management.

The practice of fiscal regulation of environmental management in Russia involves a distinction:

- firstly, payments for the use of natural resources, the essence of which is explained in numerous works by such scientists as R.A. Alataeva, A.I. Gazizov, D.D. Mikryukova and N.D. Steba. In this case, the volume of consumption of natural resources acts as the tax base for the taxation of environmental management. The need to allocate these payments to a separate category of taxation of environmental management is due to the outstanding wealth of Russia's mineral resources, which are national property, and the use of which is provided by the state to economic entities on a rental basis.

- secondly, the payment for the negative impact on the environment, which has now taken the form of an environmental tax (M.A. Vakula, I.A. Umnova-Konyukhova, I.A. Aleshkova, S.V. Gubanova, O.V. Malysheva and O.G. Arkadieva write about this in their writings). In this case, the volume of emissions and disposal of harmful substances into the environment acts as the tax base for the taxation of environmental management. Although both of these forms of fiscal regulation of environmental management in Russia have not been sufficiently studied, and the available research on this topic does not fully explain the effects of taxation on the use of natural resources in Russia.

The difficulty of identifying and researching certain aspects of these problems is due to the insufficient detail of state budget revenues at all levels of the budgetary system according to official statistics. This does not allow us to study the isolated impact of direct taxation of the use of natural resources (payments for the use of natural resources and fees for negative environmental impact, that is, environmental tax) on the effectiveness of environmental management in Russia.

The information and empirical base of the study is formed from normative legal acts defining the implementation of modern tax policy in the environmental aspect, based on the Strategy of Socio-economic Development of the Russian Federation with Low Greenhouse Gas Emissions until 2050, Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 09/21/2021 No. 1587 "On Approval of Criteria for Sustainable (including Green) Development projects in the Russian Federation and the requirements for the verification system for sustainable (including green) development projects in the Russian Federation", etc.^[7,11]

Various general scientific methods were used in the research process, including: abstract-logical, comparative, analysis, generalization, static and reasoning, as well as tabular and graphical methods. When studying the practical experience of tax regulation of effective environmental management, SWOT analysis methods, as well as variable and trend analysis are used.

The results of the study

For most business entities, direct taxation of environmental management accounts for a small part of their tax burden. In this regard, incentives related to other taxes and fees are much more effective in relation to the effectiveness of environmental management. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the preference for an integrated approach of fiscal regulation tools for the effectiveness of environmental management in Russia.

With this in mind, it is advisable to use the trend method and the variation indicator to analyze the revenues of consolidated budgets by regions of the Russian Federation for 2019-2021 according to Rosstat ^[11] (Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Trend and variation analysis of revenues of the consolidated budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation in the context of the federal districts of Russia for 2019-2021.

Source: developed and compiled by the authors.

According to Figure 1, the revenues of the consolidated budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation in 2020 increased by 9.3% compared to 2019, and in 2021 their annual growth rate doubled and reached 17.9%. The variation of this indicator among federal districts is moderate and shows a downward trend: from 40.2% in 2019 to 38.5% in 2021.

For a systematic analysis of the impact of such a factor as the revenues of the consolidated budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation on the practice of effective environmental management in 2019-2021, relevant data on environmental protection expenditures in the amount of the subjects of the Russian Federation were used (Figure 2)^[11].

Figure 2 - Trend, correlation analysis and analysis of variation in environmental protection expenditures by federal districts of Russia in 2019-2021.

Source: developed and compiled by the author.

As a result of the analysis, the following main features of taxation of the use of natural resources in Russia have been identified.

The first feature is a decrease in the contribution of revenues from the consolidated budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to the rational use of natural resources as these environmental protection costs increase and their differentiation among regions increases. Spending on environmental protection in Russia in 2020 showed moderate (by 3.6%), and in 2021 – a sharp (by 34.7%) annual growth^[11].

The second feature is the increasing contribution of revenues from the consolidated budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation to the growth of internal R&D costs as the costs of introducing new waste-free technologies increase and their differentiation among regions. When studying this feature, the resulting variable is the internal R&D costs in Russia. Technological R&D (ensuring the creation of "green" technologies) prevails in Russia, the share of which in 2019-2021 is at the level of 70%. The share of natural science R&D is also quite large: it increased from 17.28% in 2019 to 18.85% in 2021. The share of agricultural R&D is relatively small, although it increased from 1.84% in 2019 to 2.09% in 2021^[11].

The third feature is the lack of contribution of revenues from the consolidated budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation to the growth of environmental indices with their low differentiation among regions. When studying the considered feature, environmental indices calculated by the "green patrol" act as the resulting variable. Environmental indices are poorly differentiated among federal districts (variation of 5.2% for the composite index). The correlation with the revenues of the consolidated budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation is quite high only for the environmental index, and it turned out to be negative (-33.14%).

The causal relationship of the considered features of taxation of the use of natural resources in Russia allows us to make a SWOT analysis of taxation of natural resources in Russia given in the table. 1 (source: developed and compiled by the author).

Table 1 - SWOT analysis of environmental management taxation in Russia

The main conclusion based on the results of the SWOT analysis conducted in Table 1 is that environmental taxation primarily performs the function of tax collections to the state budget, but not the function of stimulating environmental investments and increasing the efficiency of environmental management.

The strengths (“S”) of environmental management taxation in Russia are the steady growth of state budget tax revenues, the increasing contribution of tax regulation to R&D costs, as well as the low differentiation of environmental indices among regions.

The weaknesses (“W”) of environmental management taxation in Russia are the declining contribution of tax regulation to environmental protection costs, the disproportion of R&D costs among the fields of science and a small proportion of natural science and agricultural R&D, as well as the lack of contribution of revenues from consolidated budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation to the growth of environmental indices.

The threat (“T”) to the taxation of environmental management in Russia is the increase in the differentiation of environmental protection costs among Russian territories, the increase in the differentiation of R&D costs among Russian territories, as well as the deepening gap between the fiscal system and environmental management.

The opportunities (“O”) for improving the taxation of environmental management in Russia are associated with the continuation of the emerging trend of increasing environmental protection costs, as well as with providing targeted tax incentives to increase the efficiency of environmental management.

Sustainable socio-economic development of the national economy in conditions of a shortage of financial resources is impossible without the development and implementation of an effective state tax policy based on the fundamental principles of rationalization and greening of the use of natural resources. The development of directions and procedures for the taxation of environmental management stimulates the improvement of financial stability, competitiveness and environmental safety of the country.

The procedure for taxation of environmental management is important for ensuring high efficiency of tax policy in the field of regulation of the "green" economy. The difficulty lies in the fact that the procedure for taxation of environmental management must meet several conditions at once:

1. To ensure the correct implementation of the current tax and environmental legislation.

2. To contribute to the replenishment of the state budget in full in order to accumulate the necessary financial resources for the implementation of national environmental programs.

3. To prevent tax evasion, that is, to fight the shadow economy.

4. Create fair conditions, equal for all participants in the markets of the "green" economy, and low entry barriers in these markets.

5. To stimulate the development of "green" finance and environmental investments in Russia.

Depending on the extent to which these five conditions are met, it is possible to judge the effectiveness of environmental management taxation. The results of the tax policy in the field of regulation of the "green" economy are expressed in improving the state of the environment and increasing the environmental friendliness of economic activity. The state policy of taxation of environmental management should be based on the principle of preserving the interest of investors in investments in environmental protection measures, providing tax incentives and preferences for the introduction of new waste-free production technologies. The expression of the costs of natural resource users is the tax burden of taxpayers of taxes on environmental management. At the same time, efficiency, classically defined as the ratio of the results of taxes paid to the cost of innovation, should be interpreted as an environmental return on taxation of environmental management.

Thus, the prospects for improving tax regulation of effective environmental management are linked:

Firstly, with the optimization of asset management necessary to achieve the priorities of Russia's sustainable economic development. The potential for efficiency growth in the use of a number of state assets has not been fully disclosed, and it can be realized, including through the development of public-private partnerships. In this case, it is advisable to attract private investment in the creation of new and modernization of existing assets of the "green" economy.

Secondly, with the optimization of environmental monitoring, which is necessary for reliable control and reliable assessment of the effectiveness of environmental management with the involvement of stakeholders of the company, which will increase the flexibility of tax regulation of effective environmental management.