FIRST-QUARTER TAX REVENUES NOTICEABLY UP

MOSCOW, April 19 (RIA Novosti) - In the first quarter of this year, 905.4 billion rubles of taxes (1 dollar approximately equals 28.5 rubles), or 16.5 percent more than in the same period last year, came to the Russian budget, says the communique circulated on Monday by the Russian Tax Ministry.

The arrival of tax and non-tax revenues to the national consolidated budget was 649 billion rubles, or 13.3 percent more than in January-March 2003. Of this figure, 336.8 billion rubles, or 7.1 percent more than last year, was mobilized to the federal budget.

51.9 percent of all tax payments came to the federal budget, 48.1 percent to the consolidated budgets of federation entities.

The bulk of January-March tax payments was, as before, value-added tax revenues (45.4 percent), payments for the use of natural resources (25.8 percent), excises (14.8 percent) and the tax on organizations' profit (12.8 percent).

Arrivals of the single social tax to the federal budget were 96.5 billion rubles (24.2 percent more than last year).