The upper house of Russia"s parliament rejected...

"The transport tax in the version proposed to us envisages taxes on all transport vehicles to be increased by two times. We examined the proposed bill and believe that ... in the current conditions it would be wrong to double tax rates and suggest that the State Duma discuss the draft law anew," said Yevgeny Bushmin, chairman of the Federation Council budget committee.

The adoption of the bill by the State Duma last week caused protests by motorists across Russia. Speaker Boris Gryzlov later said that the bill needed to be redrafted.

The Federation Council has proposed that the two houses of parliament set up a reconciliatory commission to work out a new version of the transport tax law.

MOSCOW, November 18 (RIA Novosti)