The government is looking to introduce a tax on several luxury items to help raise funds for the budget, Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said Thursday.
"We are making calculations, and within one week to ten days we will have specific suggestions regarding the list of items," Nabiullina said, Interfax reported. "I don't think the list will be very long," she said.
Russia currently has excise taxes on gasoline, alcohol and tobacco. The government is also discussing a possible increase of the gasoline excise tax to replace the transportation tax imposed on drivers.
Faced with a budget deficit that reached 5.9 percent of gross domestic product last year, the government has been trying to cut spending and raise revenue to rein in this year's shortfall.
A law on excise taxes that existed in the 1990s included jewelry, caviar, porcelain, fur, chocolate and even automobile tires in an early draft of the document. The law was eventually folded into the Tax Code, but levies on most of the items were never introduced.
Taxation of luxury items is periodically discussed in the State Duma and was last rejected by deputies in a first reading in May. The law, introduced by the Just Russia party, proposed taxing expensive dachas, yachts and cars, as well as luxury goods worth more than 300,000 rubles ($9,700).