Kazakhstan is preparing tax proposals for the wealthy

Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov has instructed the cabinet to develop and submit proposals within a month on taxing the country's especially wealthy citizens.

"The Ministry of National Economy is to finalize the package of targeted amendments to the new Tax Code and promptly coordinate it with state bodies. A separate issue is the taxation of holders of large fortunes. The ministries of national economy and finance are to study international experience within a month and submit approaches to the taxation of especially wealthy citizens," he said at a government meeting.

He also instructed the Ministry of Finance to take measures to improve tax collection, reduce the level of the shadow economy and "complete the total digitalization of tax and customs administration, including with the use of artificial intelligence tools."

On October 28, Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted in his address to the nation that the new Tax Code, which came into force this year, is not "holy scripture" and that amendments need to be made to it taking into account the interests of business. He also noted that the time has come to discuss the introduction of an increased tax rate for holders of large fortunes, stressing that no one plans to restrict lawful assets.

The new code provides, among other things, for an increase in VAT from 12% to 16%, as well as the introduction of a progressive scale of individual income tax with a gradation of 10% for everyone and 15% on income above 8,500 monthly calculation indices per year ($80,000). Preferential VAT rates of 5% were also introduced for a number of socially significant goods, along with reduced corporate tax rates for agriculture and a number of other industries, and an additional excise tax was introduced on a number of luxury goods (cars, yachts, elite real estate, alcohol and tobacco).

Source: TASS