Russia should maintain its zero-rate profit tax for Russian farmers indefinitely, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said on Friday.
"The zero tax on profit should be imposed with no time limits," Dvorkovich told a government meeting.
Dvorkovich said the government had submitted a package of drafts to the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, with an offer to extend the zero-rate tax until the end of 2016.
The Russian government has approved a 2.28 trillion ruble ($69.7 billion) state program for agriculture development in 2013-2020, in an attempt to support domestic agriculture, after the country's accession to the World Trade Organization.
Previously the government had planned to end the zero-rate profit tax for farmers from 2013 when it was to be set at 18 percent, rising to 20 percent by 2016.
