The Unified Social Tax is a regressive tax paid by employers on salaries. It ranges from 26-2% but the regression away from 26% only begins for monthly salaries of 280,000 rubles, which is more than most Russians could ever dream of receiving, meaning that 26% is the rate applied to nearly all salaries. Most social programs are funded by this tax and among them, the Russian State Social Insurance Fund,roughly similar to America's Social Security Program.