On the contrary, tax was dropped for metallic (physical) gold operations in order to provide an alternative to dollar for ordinary people (whatever that means). But, given the current prices and trade rules for metallic gold (keep the documents from purchase, don’t scratch ingot, sell to the same bank you bought it from, otherwise price will be lower), it’s not a great alternative.
Besides, price of 1g of gold was around 7500 RUB when tax was dropped, and around 4500 RUB now, so, well, happy investing.
I think that “почему/зачем?” is more of an entertainment question in Russia, because the most popular answer would be “it just so happens”. Like, all by itself. You will generally spend much more than three syllables (and maybe some amount of alcohol) to get your answer even from friends. Another fun observation about “почему” is that “normal” russians mostly deal with consequences of the processes out of their direct control. Snow and cold? Ok, find a shelter. Alien invasion? Ok, burn them down and return to a shelter. New “strange” law? Ok, it can’t be properly enforced, or someone will come up with a countermeasure in a week, no need to even leave a shelter. It’s all weather, you don’t question weather.
Besides, price of 1g of gold was around 7500 RUB when tax was dropped, and around 4500 RUB now, so, well, happy investing.