TAXATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF RUSSIA’S NORTHERN RESOURCE REGIONS: PRACTICE AND DIRECTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Scholarly interest in the taxation of northern resource-producing regions is driven by the growing importance of ensuring their sustainable development. The aim of this study is to synthesize international experience in accounting for territorial specificities that may be useful for adapting taxation instruments to support the development of Russia’s northern resource regions, given their socio-economic, environmental, and ethnocultural diversity. The study’s novelty lies in the substantiation of key principles of fiscal policy, including a balanced combination of fiscal centralization and decentralization, fair interregional tax competition within a unified tax system ensuring the universality and equity of taxation, the provision of safe and comfortable living and working conditions, and the consideration of ethnocultural factors in taxation. The research also addresses contradictions identified at the regional level in fiscal policy, spatial development, and the provision of public goods to Indigenous peoples of the North. The theoretical contribution of the study lies in expanding understanding of the development characteristics of northern resource regions and how their socio-economic, environmental, and ethnocultural diversity shapes the tax base and fiscal revenues required to finance public goods. The analysis is based on a sociocultural approach and employs comparative analysis as well as methods for evaluating fiscal policy effectiveness. The key findings include a review of international experience in implementing tax policy that accounts for territorial diversity, fiscal decentralization, interregional tax competition, and environmental taxation. Based on this analysis, the authors propose instruments for improving fiscal policy in Russia’s northern resource-producing regions. These measures are expected to enhance the effectiveness of fiscal policy and create conditions for their sustainable socio-economic development while accounting for their social, economic, and ethnocultural diversity.