Parafiscal Payment: in the Russian Legal Doctrine

This article analyzes the content of such a legal phenomenon as a para-fiscal payment. Payments that are not formally built into the system of public sources of budget replenishment and, nevertheless charged to ensure public tasks, are gradually becoming more widespread. The goal of this article is to assess the legal nature of para-fiscal payments. The approaches to the definition of para-fiscal payments in the Russian financial and legal doctrine are analyzed. Examples of para-fiscal payments within the framework of Russian legislation and law enforcement practice are considered. Based on doctrinal approaches and practice of law enforcement on the issue of legal regulation of para-fiscal payments, a conclusion was made about the sufficiency of guarantees of the legal position of para-fiscal payers. The study leads to the conclusion that parafiscality is a payment collected from private entities on the basis of public law regulations and aimed at fulfilling the socio-economic tasks of public administration. However, in the case of Russian legal reality, socially significant needs can often be rather not an explanation for parafiscality, but a way to justify an arbitrary mandatory payment. The establishment of «parallel» taxes in itself does not create negative consequences for the state and society. Nevertheless, within the framework of the Russian legal order, the establishment of parafiscalities can be regarded as a lawful and justified step only in the implementation of the general constitutional guarantees underlying administrative regulation.