At present, on behalf of the Head of State, a new Tax Code is being developed to stimulate business activity, investment and reduce the share of the shadow economy. At the same time, the key part of the instruction is to prevent an increase in the tax burden on the business.

This issue was on the agenda of the parliamentary hearings, chaired by the Speaker of the Senate Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, on the topic: "A balanced and transparent budget is the guarantee of successful and stable social and economic development of the country".
In addition to the issue of tax burden on business, in his report, Deputy Chairman of NCE "Atameken" Nurzhan Altaev also voiced a number of problems as increase of burden on the labor remuneration fund, inefficient use of budget expenditures, difficulties in implementation of PPP projects, and lack of incentives for business participation in privatization.

According to the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan, about 10,000 tax inspections of business were conducted in 2016, - noted Nurzhan Altaev. "At the end of 2016, there is an increase in tax revenues to the state budget by 23.3%, but this figure is growing amid the decline in business activity of small and medium-sized businesses. The number of operating SMEs decreased by 4.6%, and output also decreased by 6.9%. At the same time, employees of tax services interpret the norms of the Tax Code in their own way, in fact - this is "pressing" of the business through checks and additional charges, which amounted to 54.6 million KZT for one check last year, that is all over the country about 550 billion tenge. The Tax Code should dramatically simplify administration, making it as simple and understandable as possible, first of all, for entrepreneurs", - said the Deputy Chairman of NCE.

NCE actively participates in the Working Group on the drafting of the Tax Code under the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. According to the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Atameken, the most conceptual issues that are currently being considered are the reform of special tax regimes, the improvement of the mechanisms for levying VAT and the abolition of inefficient tax benefits.

An important task is to address the issue of the planned increase of the burden on the wage fund. Mandatory pension contributions from employers, contributions to compulsory social health insurance will be introduced. "As a result, the total increase in the tax burden on social payments by 2020 compared with 2016 will be 10%. We believe that an increase of the burden on the wage fund will be a significant obstacle to the legalization of employment", - emphasized Nurzhan Altaev.

"We understand that the Ministry of Finance is focused on replenishing the budget and collecting taxes, so the issues of reducing the tax burden are not being discussed. At the same time, we see serious reserves for maintaining or reducing the tax burden in the expenditure part of the budget. The clarification of the Republican budget for 2017 envisages an increase in expenditures by 31%. For 5 years, from 2012 to 2017, the expenditures of the Republican budget grew by 93% or by 5.4 trillion tenge. We believe that we have many areas where public funds are being spent inefficiently, including through development institutions and national companies. If we speak about the alternative cost of ongoing expenditures, then in 2015 more than 900,000 SMEs applying special tax regimes paid taxes in the amount of 94 billion KZT. This is about 1.5 times less than SSI "Baiterek" will allocate from the budget this year", - said Deputy Chairman of the Board of NCE "Atameken".

The privatization and PPP issues are another reserve for budget cuts. Currently, the state's share in the economy is high, the maintenance of enterprises with state participation spends a significant amount of budget funds. Large-scale privatization, as well as PPP mechanisms, contribute to reducing the burden on the budget and attracting private capital.

"This is evidenced by international experts, who assess the share of the state's participation in the economy of Kazakhstan as quite high. Today, about 7,000 communal and republican property organizations are part of the state property. Potentially a significant part of them can be managed by the private sector. For this purpose it is important to work out simple and understandable mechanisms of interaction between the state and business. In order for business to be more actively involved in privatization, it is necessary to provide additional tools to stimulate domestic investors - this is an active application of trust management, sales in installments and more", - said Nurzhan Altaev.

Further, the issue of public-private partnership was touched upon, as practical implementation of these projects is currently difficult. State agencies have stated more than 300 PPP projects at various stages of implementation, of which a number of projects have already passed all procedures and contracts were concluded.

According to the vice-president of NCE, it is required to conduct a serious analysis of the expenditure and effectiveness of budget funds issued for the implemented projects following the results of 10 years of legislation in the field of PPP. "It is necessary to analyze the disbursed funds in the form of compensation payments, as well as the funds spent on the development of project documentation, for examination conducted by state bodies and M & E. For example, the minimum cost of the project concept in private consulting companies of Zhambyl region is 5 million tenge, while in the SEC - 9.5 million tenge. Another example: three concepts for the reconstruction of three houses in the Akmola region were prepared, costing 12 million KZT each (paid by the local executive bodies), while the conceptual concepts were not significantly different, almost identical".

According to the National Chamber, there are many areas where public funds are spent inefficiently, including through development institutions and national companies. "Of course, when we talk about preventing the growth of the tax burden on business, we are told that there are serious social obligations of the state. In our opinion, a serious reserve may be an assessment of the effectiveness of using budgetary funds and strengthening control over state planning", - added Nurzhan Altayev.

In this regard, the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs RK "Atameken" submits the following proposals for discussion:
First. To strengthen control over the state planning and planning of the expenses of local executive bodies, including investment projects, PPP projects, as well as public procurement planning and state procurement.

The second. To conduct an inventory of subjects of the quasi-public sector with the maximum involvement of the public.

The third. Provide public access to a full list of investment projects that are financed from the budget, indicating the status, current status and other parameters.

Fourth. Conduct an analysis of the criteria for prioritization, as well as financial and economic efficiency, the correlation of costs and benefits of investment projects. To stop the implementation of inefficient projects.
Fifth. Maximally stimulate and involve the private sector in the performance of government orders through long-term service contracts, PPP mechanisms.
In this regard, within the framework of the execution of the order of the Head of the State, the National Chamber of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Atameken" is ready to take an active part in assessing the effectiveness of using budgetary funds by the Ministries of labor and social protection of the population, health, education and science.