The Russian government wants to give companies better tax treatment that market their software, vaccines or other inventions abroad. Previously, the profit tax reduction applied only to income from licenses and patents within Russia. A bill introduced by the government in the Duma allows the regions to reduce the tax on patent profits from abroad, from 20% to as low as 3%. However, only Russian companies can benefit from this. Deputy Minister of Economy Maxim Kolesnikov sees this as an incentive for foreign companies to establish themselves in Russia and hand over their technologies to their local subsidiaries.