Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has made a wide-ranging pre-electoral speech to loyalists after accepting a proposal to stand for president next year.
Addressing the annual congress of the ruling United Russia party on Saturday, Putin and incumbent President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to switch roles.
With his return to the Kremlin now all but guaranteed, Putin outlined his economic policies ahead of the presidential elections next March.
The premier said firms operating exclusively in the commodities and raw materials sectors should pay higher taxes, and promised lower taxes for companies engaged in innovation, construction of new plants and production
The tax system should be fair and orientated to the modernization of the economy, he added.
Taxation of the rich should be higher by means of taxes on consumption, real estate and property, Putin said.
"Taxes for prosperous people, for the rich - and there are more and more of them - taxes for such people should be higher, higher than for the middle class, the main mass of people, principally by means of taxes on consumption, real estate and property," Putin said.
Russia currently has a flat tax scale, with income for individuals taxed at 13 percent regardless of income.
Putin called for Russia to maintain economic growth of 6-7 percent a year and become one of the five largest economies in the world within five years.
“We have to return to the situation as was not long ago before the crisis, and wind up the flywheel of economic development to a growth rate of 6-7 percent a year. And then in five years we can be one of the five biggest economies in the world. This is an absolutely realistic task,” Putin said.
The present growth rate of 4 percent is insufficient, Putin said.
“The current growth rate in Russia is around 4 percent. More developed countries than us have an extra 1-2 percent a year, but this should not only drive us into a delusion, because as an absolute amount this 2 percent is a bit more than our four percent,” he said.
“Moving at the present speed, we will not increase the strength of our position, but the main thing is that we will not be able to guarantee the modern standards and quality of life of our people, and maintain and turn into new achievements our scientific, educational and human potential,” Putin said.
He underlined that the aim of economic growth was within Russia’s capabilities.
“We have enough energy and dedication, to reach new targets. The perspectives for development should first of all open up the new national economy,” Putin said.
Army re-equipment
Putin also called for a complete re-equipment of the Russian army and navy in the next five to ten years.
"We must completely re-equip the Russian navy and army in the next five to ten years," Putin said at the United Russia party congress.
"We will bring to this task not only the military-industrial complex, but industrial-engineering companies from the civil sector," he said.
"In this regard, I consider the rising state defense expenditure as one of the most important instruments of modernization as the military-industrial complex itself, and also the whole Russian economy," he said.
"In order for that plants can plan and produce to a regular schedule, the state defense order should not be made for a year as now, but for three years ahead," Putin added.
'Demographic crisis reversed'
Russia has succeeded in resolving the question of its demographic crisis, Putin said.
"We have forced into retreat the demographic crisis which was threatening the very existence of Russia," Putin said. "Just recently, the country was losing a million people a year...from 2008 to 2011 over six million people were born in Russia, the biggest indicator in the last 20 years, and the average life span increased by three years from 2006. This also, I assure you, is a very good indicator, if we compare it to other countries," he added.
"Already, from 2013 the average life span in Russia will be over 70 years. That is lower than our near European neighbors and we need to increase this positive demographic trend and guarantee the continued increase in life span," he said. "Demography is an indicator of the welfare of society and effectiveness of the state."
Civil control
Civil society should control the activities of the authorities and initiatives in this sphere should be supported, Putin said.
"Today, it is especially important to have control from the side of the civil authority over the bureaucracy, production of initiatives and honest people for renewal of authority. We should not be afraid of such an activity in society, but on the contrary, promote it by all means," the premier said.
