Unrest: Putin raises taxes to finance war, 70% vote against the war

The Russian Federation is undergoing a forced structural realignment of its fiscal policy as military expenditures reach 7.5 percent of GDP, totaling 180 billion dollars by 2025. To mitigate a widening budget deficit and the depletion of the National Wealth Fund—which has plummeted from 180 billion dollars to 35 billion dollars—the Kremlin has implemented a VAT increase to 22 percent and expanded the tax base for small businesses. Massive procurement programs for Kh-101 and Kalibr missiles, alongside the production of up to 80,000 Shahed drones annually, have pushed defense spending to 43 percent of the federal budget. This shift toward intensive domestic extraction has catalyzed a significant reversal in public sentiment, with recent polling indicating that 70 percent of the population now supports a cessation of hostilities. The exhaustion of liquid reserves and the closure of foreign credit markets leave the state increasingly reliant on internal debt and aggressive taxation that erodes household disposable income.

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