ASTANA – Director of the Macroeconomic Research Centre Olzhas Khudaybergenov recently explained the change of the value added tax and corporate income tax to a retail tax and made a suggestion to implement a receipt lottery at a meeting of the National Community Board for Business Support in Astana.
“The value added tax will be changed to a retail tax, which will amount to 12 percent if income is earned in cash, 7 percent if income is earned using a wire transfer and 5 percent if goods or services are purchased using online shops,” Khudaybergenov, whose centre is a private entity, explained.
He noted that such grading is profitable not only for businessmen, but also for the state. Implementing a retail tax will enable a decrease of cash usage in the state, increase the volume of monetary funds in the banking sector and reduce the volume of illegal businesses, experts believe. All these changes will positively impact tax revenue in the long run. Khudaybergenov said that in the beginning, people living in non-urban areas will face challenges connected with wire transfers.
He also proposed creating a receipt lottery, saying, “This method is widely used in many countries, such as Georgia and China. A receipt lottery will help to limit the black economy and lead to transparency.” Khudaybergenov specified that the innovation can increase budget revenue to the amount of 280 billion tenge (US$1 billion). People will have the chance to take part in the lottery permanently and win prizes.
Deputies of the Senate and the Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament), members of the Nur Otan party office, representatives of ministries and businessmen participated in the event. The participants concluded that the projects are very interesting. Changes to the tax code will be considered in Parliament in 2016.
