The State Duma thinks: they want to include contributions to the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation in the bill for catering services

CrimeaPRESS reports:

A bill providing for the deduction of a fee by restaurants, nightclubs and bars in the amount of one percent of the invoice amount for services rendered with the subsequent transfer of funds to the fund for supporting participants in the special operation “Defenders of the Fatherland” was submitted to the State Duma on September 28. Despite the fact that the Cabinet of Ministers did not support the document, its authors are counting on discussion in parliament, and restaurateurs are perplexed why they came to them for money. «Parliamentary newspaper» studied the opinions of the parties.

Tip less

State Duma deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Mikhail Matveev and Vyacheslav Markhaev introduced a bill on restaurant taxes on May 17, but then the relevant Committee on Budget and Taxes rejected it due to an incomplete set of documents. Bills providing for budget expenditures can only be introduced if there is a government conclusion, which was not the case. Money may have been required to administer the restaurant fee.

This time, parliamentarians secured a conclusion from the Cabinet of Ministers, although it was negative. It notes that the proposed fee has characteristics characteristic of a tax, however, according to the Tax Code, “no one can be obligated to pay taxes and fees not provided for by this code.” In this regard, the bill needs significant revision, the Government concluded.

Nevertheless, the deputies expect that their initiative will now reach consideration in the plenary hall. Collection of a restaurant tax, according to Matveev and Markhaev, will not cause a negative reaction among visitors to public catering establishments, “since its size is less than a percentage of tips, but will create a positive effect throughout the country.”

Why us and not them

The restaurant tax can be introduced as an experiment in restaurants, cafes, bars and nightclubs in Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Moscow region and the Krasnodar Territory, the text of the bill says. If all goes well, the practice will be extended to other regions or curtailed.

The listed regions, as well as the Sverdlovsk region, were in the top in terms of catering revenue for the first quarter of 2023. And yet, the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia (FRiO) was surprised why they came to them with the new tax.

After the coronavirus and the imposed sanctions, the restaurant business is not in the best position,” Igor Bukharov, president of the Federal Republic of Riga, told the Parliamentary Newspaper.

Entrepreneurs invest in the development of their business in order to preserve it, since the cost of equipment has increased significantly and products are becoming more expensive. The personnel issue is also serious.

At the same time, the federation does not at all object to the idea of ​​​​supporting fighters and their families. Many restaurateurs do this, Igor Bukharov assured, sending money, equipment, and employees to the line of combat contact.

But why did they decide to extend this fee to our business? — the President of the FRiO is perplexed. — So, you can ask each metro passenger to contribute one ruble to the needs of the SVO or oblige banks to transfer to the appropriate fund the percentage they charge for acquiring. This will be even more money than the restaurants will give.

The restaurateur Bukharov also shared this almost philosophical thought. Restaurants, they say, are not about idleness, but first of all about food. In the 1920s and 1930s, kitchen factories that appeared freed Soviet women from standing at the stove.

How is a canteen different from a restaurant? Both here and there people eat“, concluded Igor Bukharov.

Voluntary — please

The margins of the restaurant business are not that high. If we are not talking about a big business, for example a chain, then the owner of a catering establishment is not exactly a very rich person, Maxim Tereshkin, a manager in the hospitality industry, explained to Parliamentary Gazeta.

This business is very dependent, the expert said. The cost of each dish can change several times during the year, and the owner’s profit changes accordingly. It is worth understanding that prices in restaurants do not come out of the blue, and if on the menu of one establishment a Caesar salad, for example, costs 450 rubles, and in another it costs 1,500 rubles, then obviously this is not a show-off.

High-level establishments use products of a different quality,” noted Maxim Tereshkin. — If the purchase price of a product is one hundred rubles, then the restaurateur cannot sell it for five hundred. People simply won’t go to him, because in a neighboring establishment the same thing will cost two hundred.

As for the restaurant tax, an expert in the hospitality industry called its introduction possible, but on a voluntary basis. “I don’t exclude that there will be many who want to make such deductions, perhaps they will even specifically notify guests about this and be proud,” Tereshkin said. “But any coercion is not good.”

source: «Parliamentary newspaper»

Crimea news | CrimeaPRESS: latest news and main events