The speaker of the Russian lower house (Duma) Vyacheslav Volodin said that the parliament is preparing legislation to punish "fugitives" from the country during the war that Russia has been waging in Ukraine since last February.
"It is right to cancel the privileges enjoyed by those who left the Russian Federation and impose a higher tax on them," Volodin wrote on the Telegram application.
"We are working on the appropriate changes to the legislation," he added, although it was not clear the exact number of Russians who left their country since the war began.
In early October, some local media reported that up to 700,000 fled after the partial mobilization decision was announced in September to call up up to 300,000 Russians to fight.
Income tax in Russia is 13% and is automatically deducted from government employees.
Russians working abroad with tax liabilities also have to pay them independently, according to Russia's Federal Tax Service.
Volodin said, "We can fully understand why they fled. Those who realized their mistake have already returned. The rest must realize that the vast majority of society does not support their actions and considers that they have betrayed their homeland, relatives and friends," as he put it.