Development issues of an institute of an independent assessment of service quality in the social sector of Russia

The institute of an independent assessment of service quality provided by educational, cultural, healthcare and social services institutions has recently begun developing in Russia. The purpose of an independent assessment is to establish the conformity of the services provided to the needs of society, an individual and the state by the consumers themselves. The institute of an independent assessment of service quality has appeared in Russia as a “top-down” initiative mastered by non-profit organizations. The procedure for an independent assessment of social services is regulated and enshrined in legal documents of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the article is to identify promising trends of efficiency increase of the operation of the institute of an independent assessment of service quality and transform it into a current institute of public control using a retrospective analysis of the formation of the institute of an independent assessment of the social service quality in Russia. The research is based on monitoring data conducted by the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, information and analytical materials concerning the condition of civil society and working practice in the Public Chamber of Samara Region. Despite the regulatory changes, the current mechanism for a service quality assessment does not allow to implement the principles of transparency and publicity, of the independence of opinions of citizens, experts and public associations, as well as the voluntary participation in the independent assessment properly. In addition, the subject of an assessment has been substituted – from the quality of the services provided to the conditions of its provision. The study demonstrates that changes of the key non-state participant and adjustment of procedures are not enough to transform the institute of an independent assessment of service quality from a formal institution into a real, efficient institutional arrangement. Social service consumers should participate in the assessment. Moreover, the most efficient and cost-effective ways of considering the opinions of citizens and public associations should be used. Besides, the potential of collective management bodies of social institutions and professional associations should be applied. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the institute of independent assessment of social service quality, being an independent form of organizing social activities, is an integral part of the country's unified social system. Consequently, only complex democratic reforms aimed at the development of civil society can lead to the increase rate of independence in assessing the quality of services and the decrease of transaction costs for the quality assessment of social service. We suggest developing collegial governing system in state and municipal social institutions, extending a list of service providers due to effective non-profit organizations and socially oriented business, providing state funding for social sectors sufficient to maintain modern social standards. These activities are suggested to be a trend for modernization of the institute of independent assessment of social service quality. Further studies will not be devoted to formal and instrumental components of the institute of an independent assessment but will rather concern substantive components of the institute of an independent assessment of the quality of social services on the current international experience basis. The components will include not only the structure of interaction between the participants, but also internal (rather than external) regulators of economic behavior, as well as mechanisms of the formation of a trust element

Progressive taxation as a tool for providing the budget system stability

Objective to consider the alternative additional sources of income of the state budget in the framework of the action plan of the Russian government to provide socioeconomic stability of the country in 2016. Methods comparative and dynamic analysis classification and typology description and measurements including using the tools of institutional Economics the data were interpreted using tables. Results it is shown that due to the lack of financial resources the government has to make unpopular decisions that reduce the level of social support of the population for the near future. The adopted laws stipulating the principles of address character and needs when providing regional measures of social support increase the risks of poverty and inequality. The analysis has been made of the ranking position of Russia and member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of GDP per capita human development index and quality of life index. The article grounds the need for institutional change to facilitate transition to progressive taxation and redistribution of the tax burden from the poor and middle classes to the super rich. The flat personal income tax rate has not led to the desired results of growing tax revenues in the budget. Russia is still among the top ten states with the largest tax evasion losses. The weak redistributive mechanisms including a flat scale of personal income tax regressive social security contributions and low property taxes lead to stagnation inequality underfunding of education and health. Scientific novelty the article proves the conclusion about need of institutional transformations associated with changing the current tax policy priorities. The transition to a progressive scale of income and wealth taxation promotes the transfer of tax burden from the middle and poor to the rich. These measures can provide a double economic effect. On the one hand the principle of effective taxation quotgo where there is moneyquot the validity of which must be supported by deoffshorization measures on the other ndash the transition to progressive taxation increases the level of social justice and provides a positive economic outcome due to the growth of trust and social capital. Practical significance the proposed measures on transition to a progressive scale of personal income tax property and land taxes increase ofnbsptaxes on luxury goods consumption with simultaneous action on deoffshorization of income can increase tax revenues in budgets of various levels and will contribute to the achievement of social justice in taxation. nbs