Svalbard tax boost for Russians
The Russian Trust Arktikugol company at Spitsbergen is not sure whether it will accept the higher tax level proposed by Norwegian authorities at the archipelago.
-Before we can find a solution, we have to know exactly where the tax money from Barentsburg are to be spent, company General Director Aleksandr Veselov says to newspaper Svalbardposten. –They will have to be spent here at Svalbard, he stresses. In a meeting with the Norwegian governor at the island, Mr. Veselov was informed about the new taxation level, which will have consequences for the workers at the Trust Arktikugol company. The proposal states that the Russians in Barentsburg are to pay the same level of taxes as in the neighbouring Norwegian settlements by year 2015. Today, the employees in the Russian mining company pay only 30 NOK of tax per month. About 500 people are today living in the Russian settlement of Barentsburg. The Norwegian administration of the archipelago is based in the nearby Longyearbyen.
