UrBC, Moscow, October 31, 2018. Russia’s Finance Ministry won’t have the ‘luxury tax’ adjusted after all, Minister Anton Siluanov said on Channel 1 Pozner Show this week.

‘They often say we should tax the wealthier people more. As things are, we have done that already: owners now pay higher property tax on luxury apartments and condos, automobiles, yachts, and so on,’ Siluanov said.

According to Siluanov, a progressive tax system ‘has its plus and minus sides.’

‘We understand the well-off to be clever enough to find a way around the progressive tax; for one thing, these people may choose to take their funds out of the country altogether. On the other hand, a flat 13% tax rate has been around long enough, so it would hardly make sense to change the laws now,’ the minister said.

‘So the thing to do now is to adjust the people’s paycheck and pension payments,’ Siluanov said.