Effective Tax Policy of the State: Conceptual Foundations and Methodology of Evaluation

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of the research is to study conceptual foundations and methodology of evaluation of effectiveness of state tax policy and to determine effectiveness of state tax policy that is implemented in modern Russia. Methodology For complex evaluation of effectiveness of state tax policy, the proprietary methods, which allows combining advantages of both existing conceptual approaches and overcoming their drawbacks, is used. This method envisages evaluation of effectiveness of state tax policy through separate calculation of the value of financial indicator and values of non-financial indicators with the following unification and treatment of the received results. Results It is showed that the modern Russian state tax policy is peculiar for low effectiveness. The main reason for that is insufficiently successful implementation of the most important function of the taxation system—provision of collection of taxes for state budgets of all levels of the budget system—due to deficit of the consolidated state budget of the Russian Federation and critically large volume of tax evasion (shadow economy). Costs of tax policy exceed its positive results by more than two times, even without consideration of expenditures for state tax administration and control. In addition to this, state tax policy in Russia does not fully conform to the declared principles of stability, transparency, justice, and stimulation of national interests. Recommendations it is concluded that low effectiveness of tax policy of the state could be one of the reasons of non-optimality of modern Russia’s taxation system. That’s why increase of effectiveness of state tax policy is recommended for optimization of this system.