From January 1, 2009, a set of new laws on the budget, taxes and social benefits came into force in the united Irkutsk region. Revenue sharing rules changed, the minimum wage and unemployment benefit rose, and a new legal framework for the region began to take shape. Ahead are key bills on the Charter, the status of the district and the regional center, as well as further repeal of outdated norms of the former autonomous district.

Since January 1, 2009, the legislation of the new constituent entity of the Russian Federation - the united Irkutsk Region - has come into force. During 2008, deputies of the Legislative Assembly brought part of the legal framework of the Irkutsk Region and the Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug into line, extending the laws to the territory of the entire constituent entity or repealing some of the laws of the Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug.
From January 1, the following will come into force in the Irkutsk Region: a new law on the consumer basket, the budget of the united Territorial Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund, as well as the law on the regional budget for 2009 (signed by the governor on December 17), the law on interbudgetary transfers and allocation standards, adopted in connection with the financial and economic crisis. As a reminder, the latter law provides for the consolidation at the regional level of the transport tax, 5% of personal income tax, the mineral extraction tax, and the tax levied under the simplified system. Previously, these taxes were credited to the budgets of local self-government bodies.
The minimum wage level from January 1, 2009 will be 4.33 thousand rubles; until then it was 3.5 thousand rubles. Unemployment benefits will rise to 4.9 thousand rubles, plus a coefficient for residents of the Irkutsk Region: 1.2 for the southern territories, 1.3 for the northern ones. In 2008, the maximum unemployment benefit was 3.124 thousand rubles.
From January 1, amendments to the Budget and Tax Codes came into force, under which 18% of profit tax and 100% of excise taxes on motor gasoline, diesel fuel, and motor oils will go to the budget of the Irkutsk Region.
Next year, the formation of the legislative framework of the united Irkutsk Region will continue. In the first quarter, the Legislative Assembly will consider draft laws on the Statutory Court in the Irkutsk Region, on the special status of the Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug, and on the status of the regional center. In the second quarter, it is planned to consider laws on the Audit Chamber in the Irkutsk Region and on the Legislative Assembly. In addition, at the beginning of next year, the regional government will submit to the Legislative Assembly revised drafts of the Charter of the Irkutsk Region, as well as a forecast of the region's socio-economic development for the future. At the last session of the Assembly, deputies adopted in the first reading a draft law repealing the effect of 68 laws of the former autonomous okrug; work on them will continue in the first quarter.