Frozen Russian assets should be taxed to fund Ukraine's rebuild, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says

• Janet Yellen signaled her support for a plan to tax profits made on frozen Russian assets this week, according to Bloomberg.
• Any money made would be used to help fund the reconstruction of Ukraine.
• “This seems like a reasonable proposal,” she told the outlet.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has signaled that she supports a plan by the European Union to impose a windfall tax on frozen Russian assets, according to Bloomberg.

The trading bloc's leaders want to levy any profits made on state-backed investments, and then use the money raised to help fund the rebuild of Ukraine.

"This seems like a reasonable proposal," Yellen told the outlet. "It's a different thing than seizing the assets."

Yellen added that the US is already in talks with the EU about the idea, per Bloomberg.

Shortly after the Kremlin invaded Ukraine last year, western countries froze around $300 billion worth of assets held by the Bank of Russia, Moscow's central bank.

Policymakers believe that it's illegal to seize the assets outright under international law, so have cooked up an alternative plan that involves taxing any profits made by the frozen investments.

The money raised could be use to help fund the reconstruction of Ukraine. In March, a joint report by Kyiv, the European Commission, the World Bank, and the United Nations estimated that it will cost $411 billion to rebuild infrastructure in the war-torn country.

France and Germany have both pushed back against the EU's plan to tax the frozen assets, while European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned in July that the trading bloc's proposal risked undermining both the euro and the Eurozone's financial stability.