Raising taxes on passive income could bring Russia’s budget an additional 700 billion rubles a year, economist says

Applying Russia’s progressive personal income tax to income from deposits, dividends, investments, and property sales could bring the budget roughly 500–700 billion rubles in additional revenue a year, economist Dmitry Polevoy estimated.

Russians currently pay a 13-15% tax on passive income. Under the changes, a progressive scale of 13% to 22% would apply. The Finance Ministry estimates the increase will affect no more than 6% of Russians with such income, or about four million people. War veterans and people with deposit income up to one million rubles would not be affected by the changes.

Polevoy says raising taxes on investment and interest income could affect inflation differently than a standard personal income tax hike. A tax increase typically curbs demand and slows inflation, but here the disinflationary effect could be weaker or even turn slightly proinflationary.

High earners typically reinvest a large share of the profits they make on deposits and investments, Polevoy says. The new tax will shift some of that money from savings into consumption, since it will fund social payments and other budget spending.

The government needs the additional revenue to cover rising spending. Budget revenues for 2027 are planned at 43.3 trillion rubles, with a deficit of about 5.5 trillion rubles, or 2% of GDP. Authorities plan to spend 48.8 trillion rubles, 5.7% more than in 2026.