Russian aid’s plan to lift tax on mining firms leads to huge losses for bosses
Moscow — Russia’s super-rich tycoons lost more than $3bn in one day after a top economic aide to the president proposed raising taxes on the nation’s giant metal and mining companies. In a letter to Vladimir Putin, aide Andrey Belousov named 14 companies that could pay more. The resulting investor exodus saw $3.1bn wiped off the fortunes of their affluent bosses, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The companies that would be affected by the plan include MMC Norilsk Nickel, co-owned by tycoon Vladimir Potanin; Severstal, where magnate Alexey Mordashov is the largest shareholder; and petrochemical group Sibur Holding, controlled by Leonid Mikhelson and Gennady Timchenko. The proposal could raise as much as 500-billion roubles ($7.5bn) a year to help fund Putin’s spending plans, according to Belousov’s letter. It would also affect chemical and fertiliser producers. The proposition "looks like a promotion of inefficiency", Vladimir Lisin, the controlling shareholder of Novol...
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