What will the world save?

On February 7, the question of introducing a luxury tax was again raised, and Vladimir Putin called it "politically solved." The prime minister made this statement at the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP).

As usual, an acute polemic turned around this topic. The configuration of the tax system is such an important factor in the country's socio-economic development that interference in it requires qualified discussion with the participation of leading scientists and experts. This problem is designed to solve the materials of our new section “Luxury Tax”.

This topic has repeatedly been raised by both politicians and experts. For example, in 2007, the Just Russia party made another attempt to conduct a bill on the introduction of luxury tax. Then this caused numerous responses, including several materials on the analysis of the problem on our website.

So Alexander Dolgin, the head of the Imhonet project, professor, head of the “pragmatist of culture” of the Higher School in his article “ What will save the world ?” It discusses the basic concepts of “what is luxury”, “what is social justice”, argues, what will be the luxury after the introduction of the tax, speaks of the connection of the concepts of luxury and status.

The author gives the works of economist Torstein Weblen, who was one of the first to notice and described the system of signals about the status, success of the owner of expensive goods. Another important thesis of the article: "Excessive is a disguised charity."

The analysis of the structure of redistribution of income from luxury goods leads to the fact that a huge number of people participating in the production chain receive their bread precisely thanks to the whims of the rich. The article ends with a philosophical question: "When beauty fades, what will the world save?" In response, I would like to hope that love.

Read more in the article by Alexander Dolgin http://www.polit.ru/article/2007/06/20/roskosh/ .