(Adds Economy Minister comments)
MOSCOW, April 15 (Reuters) - Russia should not increase the overall financial burden on companies in the next three years and could offset higher social levies by cutting value-added tax, the Kremlin's top economic aide said on Wednesday. "For business as a whole...I agree, we should not increase the financial burden, not even in 2011," Arkady Dvorkovich told the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP).
The global economic downturn has pushed Russia into recession for the first time in a decade and the government says growth might start as late as in 2011.
Dvorkovich said that higher social tax levies, which will be introduced in 2011, could be compensated by lower value-added tax (VAT) to maintain economic competitiveness.
"This is my personal forecast...but I think that some decision to cut VAT could be expected from 2011," he said.
Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina also said taxes should not grow.
"We think we should not increase the total tax burden on businesses, especially at the time of crisis," she told the same meeting. "We can propose reforming the tax system... We need to stimulate spending on innovation, social spending."
Nabiullina also said slowing consumer demand was a concern and the government needed to find ways of supporting it.
"We (also) have a risk of falling investment ... and we need to think about what mechanisms there can be to support investment," she said. (Writing by Toni Vorobyova and Olzhas Auyezov, editing by Mike Peacock)