Putin prepares to tax Russia’s rich as war chest runs dry

Vladimir Putin is preparing to hit wealthy Russians with higher taxes to fund his war in Ukraine. The Russian president announced this week that the Kremlin was considering “reasonable” measures on the rich, such as increasing levies on dividends or raising tax rates on luxury goods. He said: “In the United States during the Vietnam War and the Korean War, that’s exactly what they did. They raised taxes specifically on people with high incomes.” It comes as Putin struggles to bankroll his war in Ukraine, with the most recent figures showing that the country’s national wealth fund stood at $36.4bn...