Born Free...Taxed to Death!

One may argue that developed nations have higher tax rates than India. Australia, Canada, USA, all have very high tax rates. The tax payers money is of course used to provide world class amenities to the 'tax payers'. In some Scandinavian nations, progressive taxation is very severe. So you really pay the price for being rich. But... in return 'you' get the best infrastructure, power, water, the best public schools, the best healthcare, and numerous social security benefits. For example, Canada...if you are ill you can just visit a govt. hospital and be assured of world class treatment. In USA, the public schools are generally better than the private schoals!

In our nation, the middle class, as I mentioned earlier, exists only to pay tax. You will be shocked to know that just about 2% of our nation pays income tax. Another major difference is that we pay tax so that the government has money to feed the poor. We pay tax so that farmer loans can be waived. We pay tax so that farmers get free power. We pay tax so that poor people get rice at Re.2 a kg. We pay tax so that diesel is subsidized. We pay tax so that the poor children can study at government schools. We pay tax so that the slum dwellers get free electricity and water. We pay tax so that they get rehabilitated in SRA buildings, which they rent out and continue staying where they were. I am not against the poor getting sops, but doesn't mean that we only earn and pay for them.

The biggest joke...tax evasion...has never even been mentioned by any political party in their agenda. There is such massive tax evasion in this country, that a little bit of effort will result in huge revenue generation. Octroi, sales tax, VAT are failures. Octroi was supposed to be abolished, with the introduction of VAT...but now the govt. is reaping double benefits. The octroi checknakas, are corruption nakas for me. There is corruption in all the aspects one can think about at an octroi naka. From weighing the trucks to declaring the value of goods, its all theft. Try getting a truck past an octroi post, and you'll be hunted down by cops in minutes. Why is that I never see a cop chase a traffic offender?

Sales tax and VAT...issues which pain me. Sales tax and VAT are to be borne by the seller. He is selling something...so he bears a 'sales tax'...similarly with VAT. Instead they just pass it on to the consumer...and conveniently mention...price-so and so + so and so % tax. Its your tax god damn it. Apart from that, I don't know if even 1% of all sales transactions that occur in India are properly documented i.e. issue an invoice or a cash memo that can be accounted for by the taxation authorities. How many times to you buy something and the seller proactively gives you a cash memo. The corruption is so deep rooted, that if you insist for a bill, he will give you an estimate. Most 'aware' people are satisfied with that, but don't realize that the estimate again is not accounted for. A bill book must be numbered, and one copy of the memo will be retained by the shop keeper. I wonder if all sellers even have bill books with them.

One more crappy tax that was levied...to kill the middle class community further was the service tax. The most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I pay tax on my income...TDS...etc. (refunds never come back) and I am taxed for paying my electricity bill! I go to a restaurant to eat my food...using my 33% taxed income...and they charge me a service tax on it? The businesses shamelessly levy it on the buyer! Ok...you want us to pay for it...so include it your food costs...and charge us accordingly. Its NOT my tax..its yours.

Tell me something...how many doctors pay tax? How can their income be accounted for...the private practitioners? There is no billing mechanism. Transactions are in cash. If you want a bill, it is just a written note on a precription...that again cannot be accounted for. I don't think any private practitioner pays complete income tax. What are the tax authorities doing? Nothing...they are aware of this for decades...they still don't have a mechanism to monitor their income.

I buy petrol...it is taxed...I buy food it is taxed...I buy rail tickets...there is a service charge...I use a phone...it is taxed...and I pay for all this with my taxed income....and 98% of India doesn't pay income tax. Sales Tax, VAT, Service Tax are anyway borne by the 2% who use it!

Born free...taxed to death...

Na Samajh Party...Samajwadi party...Na Akal(i) Dal...

The jokers of Indian politics....Amar Singh and co. are back. They did a good job by supporting Congress during the nuclear deal trust vote, but I guess thats all they have ever done.

How can a party insist on fielding a person who is convicted of a serious crime? Sanjay Dut...? I am not against Sanjay Dutt...but the party knows that the guy is convicted and is even sentenced to prison. Why do they need the Supreme court to tell them that convicted people cannot contest! And more over...as soon as SC stopped Dutt from contesting...these guys make him the party General Secretary. Just shows the respect they have for the law, for the constitution and the SC. Here is a candidate who is forbidden to participate in the election process, and you make him the face of your party, for some cheap publicity. God help U.P.!

Thats not all. I saw their manifesto today, which was in the headlines. So, the SP wants to minimize the use of computers, do away with mechanical farming and work towards reducing the number of english educational institutions. What can one say about the future of the nation if such people are a major part of shaping it. Abu Azmi's wealth (declared) was 224 crores...no wonder he can afford to support this crap. I think they look upto Sudan or Cuba...thats where they want us to be in 20 years. As the Mumbai Mirror pointed out, all of the major leaders' children study in convents and premier schools in Bombay and elsewhere. When asked about why their children don't study in Hindi or Urdu medium schools...they say India is not limited to Bombay...easy esacpe huh! I remember when Shiv Sena and more lately the MNS play the 'mee marathi' card everyday, I had once written to the newspaper advising Raj and Uddhav to withdraw their children from American School and St.Xavier's college respectively and put them in the BMC run Marathi medium schools. Will they do it? My suggestion is ridiculous...


Na Akal Dal....the Akali dal...another bunch of fanatics. The guy (Sikh journalist in Delhi) throws a boot at the Home Minister of India and these folks offer him two lakh rupees as a reward. They even promise him a poll ticket. Looks like everyone who either throws shoes or stores AK 47s gets a party ticket. There were Sikhs in Mulund (Bombay) celebrating the guy's actions. Fantastic..the only 'akalmand' community in India has now become 'Na Akal'....great going. It was PC's gentlemanliness that he didn't even have the scribe arrested. The guy realized his mistake and apologized and even his family were apologetic...may be these people should try doing this to Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, the interior minister of Saudi Arabia! They whole community would be beheaded. Is Saudi Arabia a little far fetched? Okay...try doing it to the Chinese counterparts.

Our country is the epitome of freedom...misused and abused freedom... Churchill said...that if they were to make India independent...it would be ruled by goons...some helpless people like me wonder if we were better off under them!?

More later....

Elections around the corner..

I looked at the elections of the manifestos of the Congress and the BJP...both of them contained crap...nothing that would put a smile on the face of a middle class Indian. Congress promises rice at Rs.3 a kg so BJP promises it at Rs.2. Lucky for us that the Congress didn't offer it at Re.1 a kg...!

The same old stunts...Congress' politics though vote bank and primarily appeasement based, have been consistently so for the last many decades. They do not claim to represent the middle class. Actually no one claims to represent the middle class....the middle class only exists to generate the tax...

BJP on the other hand had given a brief ray of hope to the middle class; but has now completely deserted them too. Terrorism and PM bashing is the only agenda on hand. I wonder if the BJP have a magic wand that they will wave and terrorism will get wiped away! If they have such a card up their sleeve, they can consider selling it to the US! Or is it that they propose to tell us that having laws (POTA blah blah..)will deter people who kill themselves in the name of religion. Having laws doesn't even ensure that Indians stop at traffic signals!

Both the parties don't want to focus on the core issues, a list headed by population. In the 1950s Veer Savarkar had advised Pt. Nehru that we should focus on stabilizing population, But Pt. Nehru's argument was that ours is a new nation that needs many hands to build it. Pt. Nehru passed away, and others forgot that we aren't new any more and that we have too many people for any sustainable progress to be made. Sanjay Gandhi is the last person I know who spoke about the need to stabilize population, more than two decades back. All the 'solutions' to the problems that we come up with today, are only immediate solutions and shortcuts, that 'may' temporarily resolve some issues. Sometimes I feel that is India really my nation? Doesn't become so because I was born here...? Am I needed? For anything other than paying tax? My vote doesn't count and is not even sought!

More later...

Have Decided to Share More Thoughts

Since I won't be traveling much in the next few months owing to the heat and my knee injury, I have decided to start putting down my other thoughts....just randon things that come to my mind, at this blog.