ON SOME ASPECTS OF SIZE AND DYNAMICS OF EXCISE TAX IN GEORGIA

Excise is important for mobilization of budget funds and, for a number of reasons, for the state budget revenues it is an increasing source. Because of easiness and transparency of administration of mobilization of excise taxes, it became a kind of "rescue ring" of tax policy, the task of which is to cover a large part of the state budget revenue and expenditures. In the period since 2013, the excise accumulated in the budget is 2.1 times higher in comparison with the increase of nominal GDP, and it increases 2.9 times faster than other taxes. As a result, the share of excise in this period was significantly increased in tax revenues of the state budget and the country's GDP. In the first year since the introduction of so-called “Estonian model”, in 2017, the compensation of the potential annual loss of 600 million lari was put as a burden to increased excise. As a result, the real revenues of fuel and tobacco consumers (ie, most of the Georgian population) were not only increased in comparison with the previous year (even in the nominal increase in revenues!), but decreased by 1.0 percent. Overall, in this year growth of the prices was influenced by the excise rate in most 4/5 times . The tax burden is in proportional to the income taxpayers' income, which, along with the threat of growth of the shadow economy, will also remove from the principles of social justice. The role and importance of excise tax has been increased in recent years in the economy of Georgia in mobilizing budgetary funds; After 2012 alone, its share in Georgia's tax revenues is about 1.5 times more, and the absolute volume - increased twice and more - by 127.6 percent. At the same time, the country's economy (at nominal rates) in the same period (2018 - 2012) was only 55.3 percent and the total taxes increased by 45.5 percent. Currently the share of excise is higher than 15 percent of state budget revenues and its ratio is 3.6 percent of GDP. Only 12 percent of excise taxes mobilized in Georgia come from realization of the products produced on the territory of Georgia and the other is credit to imported products. This once again indicates what a major role the international economic ties have in the economy of our country, in the welfare of the population. The highest share of excise income in the state budget comes from tobacco products (45.7%). It is almost 17 percent higher than the excise revenue received from the sale of all types of oil and oil products. It is noteworthy that the share of excise taxes in Georgia is one of the highest not only in the post-Soviet time, but also on a global scale. For example, if the share of excise in the US is 0.4 percent of GDP, in Georgia it is 3.4-3.8 percent; The US federal spending is filled in by excise only by 2.0 percent and Georgia's budget expenditures – is filled in by 14.1 percent. For this reason, if Georgia's ratio per capita to the US is about 7 per cent of GDP, it is 61 per cent according to excise burden, it means 8.5 times higher. According to the annual volume and excise rate on tobacco products, calculating per capita, the income received in the state budget from the sale of tobacco products in the US is only 46 US dollars, while in Georgia (due to the high scales and high excise rate consumption) it is almost 1.6 times higher-about 72 US dollars. Because of the realization of smuggling and counterfeit tobacco per capita in Georgia, the state budget lost about 150 million Lari in 2018, which is equivalent to about 15 US dollars per capita and about one fifth hypothetical revenue received by the state budget from realization of tobacco