January 29, 2023

Keep Your Taxes to Yourself


Keep Your Taxes to Yourself
Legislator flicking through papers. Website of the Russian State Duma

The Russian parliament has passed a bill that allows legislators to not disclose their tax returns to the public (otherwise known as their employers).

After Russia invaded Ukraine, many branches of the Russian government blocked access to data on their work and finances, and not just military-related bodies. As part of this trend, members of parliament were exempted from disclosing their monetary gains in 2022.

On January 25, the State Duma announced that it would not publish members' tax information. Pavel Krasheninnikov, Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma on State Building and Legislation, who co-authored the bill, made it clear that the only information that would be provided is an overall statistic of all members' financial information.

The State Duma website quotes Krasheninniknov, saying that the law is meant to protect legislators' data. However, in the same article, the motive behind concealing information is attributed to "typos, misprints, or errors [that] turn into the reason for the loss of [legislators'] authority." When discussing the legislation with Komsomolskaya Pravda, Krasheninnikov changed his tune: "Not everyone is interested in this(...) It's laziness."

Of course, transparent tax information, some would argue, is a helpful safeguard against corruption.

The law will take effect on March 1.

 

 

You Might Also Like

Eat. Bake. Protest.
  • January 25, 2023

Eat. Bake. Protest.

How a woman from Moscow turned a cake business into an anti-war protest and helped charities.
Memes For Our Times

Memes For Our Times

We explain ten recent memes that best capture the current sociopolitical mood across a large subset of Russian society.
Russia in 2022
  • December 23, 2022

Russia in 2022

In which we look back at Russia's performance in 2022.
Political Trade Offs
  • October 26, 2001

Political Trade Offs

Russia deserves concessions from the US in return for its support regarding Afghanistan and other issues.  Should Putin have secured this political payments up front?  What, if anything, will he take home from the November summit?
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955