Andrei Belousov said that at its Friday session, the government's budget commission had not discussed a reduction in the VAT rate or any changes in the cutoff price, above which revenue goes to the Stabilization Fund, set up to accrue profits from windfall world oil prices.
"The cutoff price is optimal. Raising the price would boost inflation," Belousov said.
Speaking about taxation, the official said that the finance ministry was drafting guidelines for policy in this sphere, and the relevant document would be considered at the next session of the budget commission, preliminarily scheduled for March 20-22.
"We will take notice of their proposals after that. So far, we have considered the current VAT rate in our forecast," the deputy minister said.
