Good eye, OP but I don't know if you noticed but mods, DT members, and others don't really take any action against merit abusers and haven't for a while now. Theymos basically doesn't want much tagging for that sort of thing, even though members are still free to do so.
Why oh why did that troll come back?
We could though, and in fact I don't see why not.
The merit system was put in place to prevent spamers from reaching high ranks with ease as it was possible before.
Inaction against merit abuse just makes it easier for them to get around any meaningful restriction that it imposed.