The paper demonstrates the role of mineral tax in the overall sum of tax revenues in the budget. Problems of tax computation and payment have been reviewed; taxpayers and taxation basis of the amount of extracted minerals have been clearly defined. Issues of rental content of natural resource taxes are reviewed, as well as problems of right definition of the rental component in the process of mineral tax calculation for liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons. One of important problems in mineral tax calculation is a conflict between two laws – the Subsoil Law and the Tax Code of Russian Federation (26 th chapter). There is an ambiguity in the mechanism of calculating amounts of extracted mineral resources – from the positions of the Tax Code and the Subsoil Law. The second problem is in the necessity to amend the mineral tax for oil extraction the same way as it has been done for gas extraction, when characteristics of each field are taken into account. This will provide a basis for correct computation of the natural resource rent for liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons. The paper offers recommendations for Russian authorities on this issue.
