Russia loses more than a trillion rubles a year due to migrant workers, how to change this
Let's consider the effectiveness of attracting migrants for the state: compare the amount of revenues to the consolidated budget from citizens of the Russian Federation and labor migrants, as well as business expenses for paying salaries. This article covers only the problem of labor migration and only from the perspective of economics; another article by the author is devoted to the issue of obtaining citizenship by natives of Central Asia - 1,7 trillion rubles spent on payments to children of unemployed and migrants in 2023
The Ministry of Internal Affairs periodically publishes data on the number of people in the country at the same time. : in 2019 – 4,1 million people, in 2022 – 3,35 million.
Lost budget revenues
Russia has a visa-free regime with most CIS countries; a labor migrant must undergo a medical examination, pass (actually buy) an exam on Russian language proficiency, knowledge of the history of Russia and the basics of Russian legislation and purchase a patent, the price of which is on average 6,5 thousand rubles per month . A patent is an advance payment of personal income tax; the income tax paid by the employer is reduced by its value.
The employer also pays a UST of 30%; until 2023, the use of migrant labor was exempt from paying social contributions.
Until 2023 at the average according to [leech=https://rosstat.gov.ru/labor_market_employment_salarieshttp://]Rosstat salary “in hand”, hiring a citizen of the Russian Federation cost the employer 40% more, currently the labor of local residents is 7% more expensive.
For more than a decade, citizens were charged 3,3 times more taxes than migrants. In 2023, the tax burden was equalized, but the majority of migrants work in the informal gray sector of the economy - according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, valid patents only 60% of labor migrants have, studies show that officially employed 40% of migrants are from Central Asia.
If a migrant works without a patent and registration of labor relations, based on tax deductions from the average salary, the consolidated budget does not receive 32 thousand rubles per month. The work of migrant workers, taking into account the withdrawal of funds from Russia, led to a lack of consolidated budget revenue in 2023 in the amount of a trillion rubles.
Budget expenditures on migrants
In our country, no comprehensive study has been carried out on the cost of migrants’ stay, according to estimates Arab researchers, in the UAE, budget expenditures per migrant amount to more than $3 thousand per year, including costs for security, infrastructure and social benefits. In Russia, significant costs are associated with the education of children of labor migrants in schools.
Budget expenditures are also associated with the treatment of HIV-infected migrants. In 2016, HIV-infected foreign citizens were allowed to reside in Russia if they have close relatives with Russian citizenship or residence permits, as a result of which, in some regions, more than a third of HIV-infected people are foreign citizens, course cost HIV treatment costs 70 thousand rubles per year.
Conclusions
In 2023, the tax burden of Russian citizens and migrants was equalized, but this did not change the situation much, since most migrants work without formalizing labor relations; in fact, after crossing the border they dissolve in the vastness of Russia. Direct economic damage to the state from lost tax payments amounts to about a trillion rubles. Cheaper migrant labor slows down technical re-equipment, which reduces the competitiveness of the Russian economy.
Proposals for changing migration legislation
It is necessary to significantly increase control over the stay of migrants in Russia, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs cannot cope with this. It is more effective to weed out those who do not have official work using administrative methods:
1. Increase the cost of a patent to the amount of tax and social contributions from the average salary, while simultaneously canceling the payment of unified social tax by migrants. In 2023, with an average salary of 64 thousand rubles “in hand”, according to Rosstat, deductions amounted to 32 thousand rubles, so the cost of a patent must be raised from 6,5 to 32 thousand rubles per month.
After a multiple increase in the price of a patent, the number of migrants will decrease significantly; in order to recoup the price of a patent, they will have to work 12/7 shifts, which will increase tax revenues and reduce social tension in society - with such a schedule, migrants will not have the strength and desire to leave their place of work.
2. Prohibit a migrant’s stay in Russia for more than 2 weeks a year without a patent; for staying without a patent, introduce a fine of 10 times the amount for the period of delay; in case of a malicious violation, impose criminal liability.
3. Prohibit obtaining citizenship through a simplified procedure outside quotas, otherwise we may face an increase in the number of facts about obtaining citizenship in order to avoid purchasing a patent.
4. Reintroduce a complete ban on the stay in the country of foreign citizens who have been diagnosed with HIV infection, and deport HIV-infected foreigners.
Information