Vehicles valued between 3 and 10 million rubles, if bought after January 1, 2022, are no longer deemed luxury for road tax purposes. The long-standing luxury threshold of 3 million rubles, set in 2014, has been raised. Yet questions remain about tying luxury status strictly to price.
Every few years, or even more often when currencies swing, there is room to adjust the limit legally. Yet the digital platform Bankauto believes there are at least two stronger approaches worth considering.
By engine power
Classifying a car as luxury based on its engine power makes practical sense. New vehicles with 400 to 500 horsepower, once prohibitively expensive in 2014, still command high prices today. The power-based criterion becomes more stable and less sensitive to price fluctuations. It mirrors how transportation taxes are calculated elsewhere, where higher engine output can drive an additional rate. Applying a similar multiplier to luxury taxes alongside the transport tax could reflect true performance value more accurately.
By brands and models
Specific brands can also carry a luxury designation, Bankauto experts suggest. Premium labels like Bentley or Bugatti inherently produce non-budget vehicles, while other brands span a range from affordable to luxury. A tiered approach could keep mass-market brands paying basic transport tax, while mid-tier lines incur higher costs, and the most exclusive models fall into a separate, higher category. For example, a brand like BMW would span multiple categories depending on the model, with smaller sedans remaining non-luxury and flagship models stepping into higher brackets. The same logic would apply to brands that sit at the very top end, such as Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, or Maserati, which could be treated as distinctly luxury for tax purposes.
Further refinement is possible through gradual rate steps within these categories. Among the top luxury marques, entry-level high-end models might carry a moderate uplift, while ultra-luxury vehicles command the highest rates. This tiered system aims to preserve the tax’s original intent while aligning it more closely with consumer reality and vehicle value.
Bankauto believes such a framework would allow the tax to better reflect actual ownership costs without penalizing mid-range buyers or stifling legitimate luxury demand.
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