Russian authorities have collected a record amount of taxes from the occupied regions of Ukraine. In nearly nine months of this year, the budgets of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions received 118 billion rubles in tax revenues, including over 96 billion rubles from personal income tax and 12 billion rubles from corporate tax. This marks a 22% increase compared to the total collected for all of 2023, as reported by RBC, citing data from the Unified Budget System Portal.
Notably, Donetsk and Luhansk regions accounted for over 80% of the total tax revenue. The so-called DPR collected 56.7 billion rubles in taxes during the first nine months of the year, with 46.4 billion rubles from personal income tax and 6.7 billion rubles from corporate tax.
According to data from September 28, the LPR raised 38.7 billion rubles, including 31.6 billion rubles from personal income tax and 3.8 billion rubles from corporate tax. The Zaporizhzhia region collected 14.9 billion rubles, while Kherson collected 7.9 billion rubles.
In 2023, the consolidated budgets of the four regions received a total of 96.4 billion rubles in tax payments. Specifically, the DPR collected 49.1 billion rubles, the LPR 33.2 billion rubles, Zaporizhzhia 8.9 billion rubles, and Kherson 5.1 billion rubles.
By the end of the third quarter of 2024, the planned tax and non-tax revenue in these regions was exceeded, according to the Ministry of Finance.
"The budgets of the new subjects of the Russian Federation are being executed steadily," the financial department added.
The increase in tax revenues in the occupied regions of Ukraine is attributed to the recovery of the economy, improved interaction between taxpayers and tax authorities, and higher tax rates on corporate and personal income in Russia, stated advisor and head of tax practice at VERBA Legal, Evgenia Zainchukovskaya.
However, the occupied regions remain dependent on subsidies. As of September 28, the total amount of transfers to these regions from other budgets exceeded 223 billion rubles. According to RBC's calculations based on data from the Unified Budget System Portal, the DPR received the most in 2024 (101.8 billion rubles), while Kherson region received the least (26.8 billion rubles).
"The situation is worse in Kherson region, where the subsidy level is over 80%; for all others, it is around 60-65%," said Natalia Zubarevich, a professor in the Department of Economic and Social Geography of Russia at Moscow State University. However, she noted that three out of four occupied regions have a lower level of subsidy dependency than Chechnya and Ingushetia, whose budgets rely on federal transfers by 83-85%.
