New People party deputies in the State Duma proposed making it mandatory to publish every bill with a clear assessment of its impact on Russian business. The proposal was turned into a draft resolution in the lower chamber of the Bundestag. This was reported by Alexander Demin, a leading figure in the New People faction and chair of the State Duma Committee on Small and Medium Enterprises, via the newspaper Vedomosti.
The party presented this initiative as a move to protect the interests of small business owners who contribute a large portion of tax revenue to the federal budget. The idea is to ensure that new laws spell out potential costs to entrepreneurs and outline the possible consequences for employment, cash flow, and business viability. The goal is to prevent regulatory measures from unexpectedly squeezing the finances of Russian enterprises and to provide lawmakers with a full picture before decisions are made.
Demin emphasized that the current legislative process often overlooks the financial implications for small businesses. He noted that in 2022 the total taxes paid by small enterprises exceeded 5 trillion rubles, accounting for around 10 percent of the state budget. He warned that measures threatening the survival of SMEs would indirectly threaten the broader economy, describing such outcomes as a serious risk to the stability of the fiscal system and to the communities that depend on small businesses for employment and services.
In a separate development, GEO.Platforma analytics released survey results indicating cautious support among Russian small and medium enterprise leaders for a Ministry of Industry and Trade proposal to place kiosks at the entrances of shopping centers. The findings show that less than half of SME respondents back the plan, while a large majority express concern about a possible recurrence of past campaigns that targeted storefronts, recalling events from 2015 to 2016. The data reflect a worry that new policy experiments might disrupt consumer access and business operations in retail hubs, even as some executives recognize potential benefits from improved visibility and consumer engagement.