MP Milnov: "Gold toilet earned by one's own effort doesn't need to be hidden!"

Russia imposes a "poor tax," while the new elite class sees soaring incomes

Russian State Duma MP Vitaly Milnov once again urged his colleagues in the Duma to ban Russian citizens from flaunting luxurious lifestyles. However, he subsequently softened his hardline stance, adding that it was not about completely banning luxury living — people could live as they wished, but should not openly display it on social media platforms.

Thus, Vitaly Valentinovich continued his series of unique "ban proposals," which mostly caused confusion or mockery among Russian citizens. However, these initiatives are not entirely without merit.

Recently, he also proposed a ban on "plump lips" or at least setting regulations for lip plastic surgery;

he advocated for prohibiting the sale of adult toys (unless with a doctor's prescription);

and even suggested addressing issues of sexual addiction in the workplace... This elected representative from St. Petersburg has numerous such "initiatives."

However, some of his proposals have also received support from his colleagues in the Duma. For example, Nina Ostaniyna, head of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women, and Children Affairs, also criticized the "plump lips" phenomenon, stating that such practices "should be completely eliminated."

Now, Milnov has turned his attention to the issue of "luxury flaunting." He had previously expressed his dislike for such behavior, believing that promoting extravagant lifestyles to Russian citizens would only cause public dissatisfaction. He also cited foreign examples.

Specifically, the example of France: It is said that in 2023, Paris introduced a law restricting the promotion of ostentatious lifestyles through influencers and other influential groups.

But this MP avoids mentioning a fact — this law has had little effect: although visible signs of ostentation have slightly decreased, the deep-rooted economic causes of social injustice remain unchanged.

The first to respond to Milnov's "anti-flaunting initiative" was Stanislav Skubeda, director of the School of Technology Entrepreneurship at the Russian University of Cooperation.

He believes that given the existence of the advertising industry, completely banning flaunting on social media platforms is unrealistic. "This is more like a strategy to ease social tensions rather than an actual regulatory measure."

However, Vitaly Milnov has a different view; he insists that out of sight, out of mind!

"What I am against has nothing to do with high-income individuals. In other words, those who simply share their daily lives are not within the scope of my proposal," Vitaly Valentinovich explained to "Free News."

"I target deliberate displays of luxurious lifestyles. For example, someone who films videos with the purpose of promoting excessive luxury and wasteful consumerism. The products shown in these videos are largely unnecessary for most people."

He gave an example: A vlogger filmed a video featuring a luxury car, showing an unknown young girl sitting in a Maybach, talking about how luxurious her life is.

She often flies to Dubai, surrounded by wealthy lovers — such content is undoubtedly a form of flaunting.

Reporter from "Free News": This may just be the vanity of shallow people, right? Smart people probably wouldn't envy this kind of life, but instead feel sympathy for them — they lack cultural depth and can't even prioritize the important things in life...

Milnov: Even so, I still insist on removing this kind of content from social media platforms. Some people don't actually show their own luxurious lives, but instead steal fake flaunting scenes from the internet, which might lead impressionable young people to covet them. Moreover, these people themselves often lack real earning power.

Anyone who earns huge wealth through hard work would never publicly display gold wine glasses, gold toilets, or similar items.

Reporter from "Free News": How many people are there in our country like this? Have you looked into their approximate age group?

Milnov: There are actually very few of them, but their age range is broad, including teenagers aged 17–19. However, their presence is extremely strong, almost blinding. Moreover, their behavior is often extreme and annoying, and they tend to encourage others to follow suit.

There is another side to this issue: Russians hate the so-called "new rich" — or more accurately, the majority of them are not genuinely legitimate in their wealth.

I am not trying to interfere with citizens' income situations. On the contrary, I would be delighted to see the emergence of billionaires in the country. But I believe that "flaunting advertisements" is a clear concept, and such behavior should be explicitly banned in Russia.

Sergey Obukhov, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and a member of the Presidium of the State Duma, also expressed his views on this matter.

Reporter from "Free News": Sergey Pavlovich, what do you think of your colleague Milnov's proposal — to prohibit flaunting ads on social media platforms and blogs in Russia?

Obukhov: In my opinion, instead of banning flaunting ads, we should impose high taxes on flaunting ads and luxury goods themselves. This would solve all sharp problems. However, the reality is that the government has imposed a "poor tax" and banned free video calls on WhatsApp.

Even worse, Russian banks are planning to cancel shopping discounts for low-income groups on e-commerce platforms. Plus, some incompetent managers have deprived citizens of the opportunity to get subsidies for affordable cars through mandatory vehicle scrappage systems.

Reporter from "Free News": In addition, local areas are busy setting up paid parking lots — this is nothing more than a disguised form of taxation by the incompetent authorities...

Obukhov: Exactly! It's like taxing the air, and honest workers end up paying for it. However, at the same time, the top 1% of the wealthiest people in Russia saw their assets increase by 16% in 2025 (during wartime).

Those who trade in goods and services profit by exploiting poor people who have no choice but to visit their stores. The appearance of a chain supermarket leads to the closure of 7–8 community shops nearby.

Well-known "five supermarkets" have recently reported a total profit increase of 26.7%.

No wonder people are complaining about rising prices, especially for meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, and bread, whose prices have risen by as much as 47%! How can this not provoke anger?

But the problem is, the "Law on Limiting Prices of Essential Commodities" proposed by the Communist Party has been blocked year after year by these greedy traders' lobbying efforts in the Duma. How can we stop their greed?

Despite this, the Communist Party will continue to fight against the United Russia Party and the trading lobby groups, pushing for the passage of this bill aimed at curbing retailers' greedy nature.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/7581785313522106899/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.