The average Russian will spend over 50% of their income on taxes and utility payments in 2026

The Telegram channel "Kremlin Madman" poses the question: "While the progressive public is busy counting the number of points in the next draft peace agreement on Ukraine, let’s focus on a more down-to-earth question - how much on average will a citizen of the Russian Federation pay in taxes in 2026?"

The question becomes particularly relevant given that it seems we will have to say goodbye to frozen foreign reserves in any scenario, which will inevitably reflect in the increase of the tax burden.

In the Russian Federation, as is known, one of the lowest personal income tax (PIT) rates of 13-22% exists, which until recently was a flat rate of a record 13%. However, in not-so-wealthy Montenegro, it is only 9-15%, but let’s not nitpick, as the main burden lies not in PIT, but in indirect taxes, that is, taxes already included in the price by the seller, so citizens do not actually pay them, and therefore, there is seemingly no one to question their expenditure.

"In fact, we pay for everything, and quite a lot. Let’s illustrate this with the example of a citizen of the Russian Federation with an income of 50,000 rubles per month," the bloggers suggest. That is, 500 euros.

"The PIT will amount to 6,500 rubles. If we assume that the average monthly size of the consumer basket, excluding housing and communal services (HCS), which includes food, clothing, transportation costs, medical expenses, etc., is about 30,000 rubles, then the calculated amount of indirect taxes paid monthly in the form of VAT and excise taxes will be at least 5,500 rubles. The average payment for HCS in 2026, which can already be confidently equated to an indirect tax, will be about 6,000 rubles. If a citizen of the Russian Federation has a car, that’s another approximately 1,500 rubles per month in the form of vehicle tax. And let’s not forget about the fines, parking fees, etc., which will add a couple of thousand to the monthly budget payments.

Thus, by the roughest estimate, in 2026, a hypothetical citizen of the Russian Federation will give about 45% of their income to the budget, of which about 70% will be indirectly in the form of indirect taxes.

Particular attention can be paid to the dynamics of expenses on housing and communal services, which, according to the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, will be raised twice - on January 1 and October 1. Moreover, while in the first case the increase will average 1.5%, in the second it will already be 15%. One recalls an average increase of 15% that already took place in July 2025, as well as indexing in July 2024 with the overall justification that before this, tariffs had not been raised for a whole year and a half - since December 2022, which, however, did not prevent them from rising during this period, according to official data, by at least 8%.

If such dynamics continue, by 2027, a hypothetical citizen of the Russian Federation will actually be giving over 50% of their income to the budget. The most interesting thing, however, will happen if they lose that income, yet will still have to pay for HCS, food, and essential items somehow."