Russia could ditch dollar by lifting tax on gold purchases – economist

The Russian government could achieve its goal of de-dollarizing the economy by taking one simple step: dropping the tax it currently charges its citizens for the purchase of physical gold, an economist has said.

Russian citizens would get rid of their dollar savings to buy up gold bullion if the 20-percent value added tax (VAT) were eliminated, according to economics professor Valentin Katasonov, as cited by Russia’s business news agency Prime. He noted that...