The use of the so-called Bismarckian system of social guarantees, which provides for their financing through taxation of labor, appears to be a key constraint for economic growth, the primary source of poverty and underfunding of the social sphere in Russia. If in Russia there are disputes about who actually pays contributions to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, FFOMS and FSS – an employee or an employer – then this issue has long been resolved in the world: the system of national accounts of the 2008 SNA refers to wages and salaries, regardless of in addition, they are paid by the employee, employer or jointly.
In other words, the Bismarck system shifts the main burden of socially necessary social costs onto the shoulders of workers formally employed in the legal sector, relieving the offshore and shadow economy, informally employed workers living on capital income, guest workers and marginalized people from this obligation. It is difficult to call such a system of social solidarity.
The natural result of the institutional “rut” of the Bismarck system in developed countries is the growth of economic inequality between labor and capital (proved by Thomas Piketty), stagnation in the industry, crushed by social pressure, and the transfer of labor-intensive industries to third world countries. The situation is very bad in countries with large-scale shadow economies and informal employment. In Russia, social taxation of wages has led to a catastrophically high cost of labor, turning social guarantees into a brake on the economy, and de-industrialization, which is controversial for developed countries, into the murder of Russian industrial regions.
The high tax burden on labor hinders the growth of wages. This is one of the main reasons for the phenomenon of the “working poor”, the departure of highly qualified personnel and talented youth from the country, the displacement of Russians from jobs by guest workers, many categories of whom, even with formal employment, are exempt from social contributions (therefore, they are more attractive to employers and in some professions they earn more than the citizens of Russia).
From the point of view of the economy, the monthly contributions paid by enterprises for pensions, medicine and social insurance are payment for the delayed consumption of workers by limiting the resources of current production, which unreasonably increases the price of labor and the need for working capital, reduces the possibilities of labor and environmental protection, and reduces the profitability of enterprises, especially with a long technological cycle and high labor costs.
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