MOSCOW, May 31 (RAPSI) - A group of lawmakers has submitted an amendment to the State Duma to lower the cost of cars liable to increased transport tax from 5 to 3 million rubles ($94,970) and also drafted an amendment prohibiting officials from buying luxury cars, amendment co-author Vyacheslav Lysakov, first deputy chair of the State Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Development, told RIA Novosti.

The proposal is designed to amend the government bill on the taxation of luxury cars, which the State Duma has accepted for consideration.

According to the previous bill, cars with an average value of more than 5 million rubles ($158,280 at the current exchange rate) will be qualified as luxury items and will be added to a special list compiled by the Industry and Trade Ministry.

The owners of cars which are less than five years old and cost between 5 and 10 million rubles ($316,560) will pay a double rate; 10-15 million ruble cars less than 10 years old and cars worth over 15 million rubles ($474,835) and are less than 20 years old will be subject to a triple rate tax.

Lysakov said the average monthly salary in Russia was barely 27,000 rubles ($855) in the first quarter of this year, and half of the cars bought in Russia cost less than 1 million rubles ($31,656). The authors of the amendment believe that it would be more reasonable to set an increased tax on cars which cost 3 million rubles or more.

They also proposed introducing a markup factor of 1.5 for cars that cost from 3 to 5 million rubles and are less than three years old.

Lysakov also said that a bill prohibiting officials from using budget funds to buy cars that cost more than 3 million rubles would be submitted to the State Duma in the next few days.