Recently, a group of MPs have recurrently submitted for the consideration of the State Duma a draft law on introduction of state monopoly for alcohol.
The authors of the document propose to hand the manufacture and turnover of alcohol-containing products over to the licensed enterprises that have concluded special contracts with the governmental bodies.
According to them, the alcohol sales profit may amount up to 20% of Russia’s national budget. Our expert is firmly convinced that the advantages of the adoption of the law will go far beyond national economy.
Dmitri Kozachenko, first deputy chairman of the regional Legislative Assembly’s Committee for Agrarian Policy and Consumer Market.
“I believe that introduction of state monopoly for the production of alcohol and vodka is simply a must. All vodka must be government-run. We have now ‘moonlit’ alcohol widespread throughout the country. In the Soviet time, per capita annual vodka consumption was 10 to 11 liters. Now the figure is just 5 liters. Are we drinking less? Not at all, I think that we are drinking even more than then. Well, let’s suppose that now our life level is higher than in the Soviet time, that we have no problems and drink the same amount - even then, where are the rest 6 liters, which by the way are 1.752 trillion rubles of excise tax that have never come to the budget. That is why I am firmly convinced that total government monopoly for the production of vodka and alcohols is a necessity.”
Q.: There is only one distillery in the Krasnodar region left - 99% of the vodka sold in our shops comes from elsewhere. Why is the region losing so much money? For our people are not going to quit buying vodka in near future, aren’t they?
A.: There used to be a number of distilleries working in our region - but they all were ousted out by competitors from other regions. They were closing in different ways - some sold out their chares, others couldn’t get a license for such a long time that their employees eventually dispersed. The regional government may also have not been tough enough to stand up for these enterprises. Anyway, we have lost our distilleries - though in our [agricultural] region always there is some lower-quality grain left that may not be used as fodder but can be used to produce alcohol. If such inferior products make up just 0.5%, it’s quite a volume taking into account our aggregate yields.
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