Since mid-November, Russia’s long distance truckers have been protesting against a new freight tax on trucks over 12 tonnes. The tax is 1.53 rubles (£0.01) per kilometre until March 2016 and 3.73 rubles (£0.04) per kilometre thereafter. The official reason Russia’s Federal Transportation Agency (Rosavtodor) gives for the new tax is to pay for the road damage it says 12-tonne trucks cause. In fact, according to a press release, Rosavtodor claims that one 12-tonne truck causes road damage equivalent to 40,000-50,000 cars.
The tax will be collected through Platon, an electronic monitoring system, operated by RT-Invest Transport Systems, a company owned by Sergei Chemezov, a close associate of Vladimir Putin who is subject to western sanctions, and Igor Rotenberg, son of Putin’s former judo partner Arkady Rotenberg.
Given the closeness of RT-Invest’s co-owners to the Russian president, many see this new tax as just another example of rent-seeking corruption in Russia. Indeed, RT-Invest was created specifically for this no-bid state contract. According to Russian business daily Vedomosti, RT-Invest is projected to earn 10.6 billion rubles (£102 million) of the 50.6 billion rubles (£404 million) in road taxes collected annually.
