Recycling Fee: Current Legal Issues

Abstract

This article analyzes the legal regulation of recycling fees and identifies the qualifying features of this mandatory payment. Based on a summary of theoretical approaches to defining fiscal and parafiscal (non-tax) payments, as well as judicial and arbitration practice, the author concludes that the recycling fee has the fiscal legal nature of a state duty, taking into account the nature and practice of its collection as a fiscal payment. It is proposed to introduce a chapter dedicated to the collection of recycling fees into the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, include provisions in this chapter indicating the targeted nature of this tax collection for the purposes of ensuring environmental safety, define criteria for differentiating the recycling fee, limit the recycling fee rate by linking it to the estimated cost of recycling and the income from materials obtained during recycling, and introduce a number of other legal innovations.