Preventing tax evasion in India, a suggestion..

Spotted a typo - thight - should have been things

I can only wish myself good luck... as for the country... others dictate the luck! And yes, you and your thoughts are no way corrupt. Just that many of those freedom fighters only envisioned them... and failed to turn their vision into reality

And they said democracy is better than socialism. Both are equally bad. Out here, tax payer's money goes to finance pilgrimages. Out here, tax payer's monies are sanctioned to build religious structures. Hey, we are supposed to be secular..how come we are doing this? I think we have too much population. So we should have anticipated road congestion. It is not as if Indians are dim wit. It is frustration on part of the intelligentia here. Most have given up and have accepted the corrupt routine as it could mean a whole lot of sacrifices and nobody else would be joining them unlike in freedom struggle. Nothing would be achieved so to say even after sacrificing life. I resent our politicians going abroad, and taking their entourage with them. If they are Indians, they should use Indian medical facilities. As long as even one person in India cannot go abroad for a treatment that is not available within the country, politicians have no business to be spending more for their treatment and entertainment.

Oh we are borrowing alright..and borrowing a lot, because of which our deficit is high and inflation tough to manage. But those dim wit politicians are not coming to their senses.

That's pretty bad, just have you're country do what we do and borrow money so there's enough to for everything.

I would be happy to pay those taxes if a. Sonia Gandhi didnt go abroad for her treatment - taking her caregivers and security personnel as well. b. None of the politicians went out of the country for any medical treatment that was perfectly possible in All India Institute of Medical Sciences. You cant proclaim to be patriotic after insulting your own doctors. c. Not one naya paisa is spent towards any politician's or his kith and kin's residence, security, subsidized food, electrical works, pwd works, whatever. There is a big list of such things. For starters I expect these three. :) Why should the taxpayer pay for such things? Beats me. Dont you have limits on where you can take treatment and how much. Then why similar restrictions are not there on our politicians? Why are they not accountable? Why did Pratibha Patil our first woman president get away with spending a fortune on her foreign tours. I as a taxpayer expect an account. And all these are disallowable expenditures.

Looks like Pranab Mukherjee read this post.. so he wants to cut down on foreign trips of officials and ministers -

I agree on that. Government gets five years to use that money - and it does not carry any interest at that point of time. Even after five years, it is not repaying those monies. Instead, it is passing back the monies without interest over a period of 5 years. Only if the taxpayer chooses to defer utilization of the benefit does he, she, or it become entitled to a nominal interest - only on the part that is deferred. Therefore, if I defer utilizing the interest advantage in the first year, it would fetch me 2.07 percent discount on prevailing interest rate in the following year. If I go one more year later to avail the amount it will be 2.15 percent discount and so on. Effectively, this keeps pace with the inflation rate within the country. Government would be forced to cut down many of its expenses with such projected liabilities. As things stand we have many licenses that do not make sense. Government would still have funds with it from the current year's taxes. It is up to the government to use it in a way that benefits everybody. If road taxes need to be enhanced, they should be. If subsidies have to be removed. They should be. Time people learnt to pay for what they are receiving as well. No blue eyed babies.

I didn't understand a word of that, so obviously our respective tax systems are entirely different. Which means I don't understand the original post because of the cultural differences. And there I was thinking I knew a bit about India because I specialised in India to some extent during my Anthropology degree course. Ah well, perhaps it's a good thing they wouldn't let a sick old man do his PhD field work in Kerala . Lash

Actually, I am not too good at expressing myself. :) On the face of it - its not easy to identify that I failed to express myself. I have bouts of laziness while communicating so to say. So I eat away words and thoughts and end up confusing others. Sorry..and you are welcome to come and stay at our place for your PhD work but I am not in Kerala. :)

Thanks for your enriched discussion and comments. How the salaried people can get rid from the tax hunters ? Is there any way ? I expect more discussion from you on this topic. Thank you again.

Personal income tax is absolutely unnecessary. That is because some people can hide income, others cant. We cant penalize a person who cant hide his income. That is so unfair. Instead, we offer incentives to people for paying monies by cheque or through bank accounts. That exposes all these middlemen who do not reveal the accounts correctly.

You bet.. salaried people suffer it from all angles.. If they are working for a small business, their bosses exploit them, and government does not make it mandatory for such businesses to have a PF account. Effectively they've to find ways and means to save for their retirement, without government's help! EFFECTIVELY GOVERNMENT LOOKS THE OTHER WAY IN CASE OF PEOPLE WHO NEED ITS HELP THE MOST!!! Even where PF rules apply, government officials accept bribes and let the business owners avoid relevant provisions. Effectively, the employee is still not sure what the future holds for him or her. Again he or she needs to find alternate ways like rental incomes to make the two ends meet. Added to his or her woes are expensive professional services, be they those of medical professionals, or others. Things that he or she has to pay partly or wholly in cash. Lastly, when the employee reaches the taxable income level, tax authorities hound him or her. How unfair!!!! Think of a case where a person who has parents who are alive, a mentally retarded sibling and two children. Even if the wife is working such responsibilities are tough to manage!!! Tax laws cannot be applied uniformly. In fact, such cases make it necessary to remove personal income tax. When there is no equal treatment then how is personal income tax justified? In contrast a lower class person earns 20000 or so per month on his bhajiya stall. He does not pay one naya paisa tax and works only for half a day and is his own boss. To top it all, government considers him poor because he does not disclose his income. So government allots homes to him. I am not against poor. That is not the issue. But I am against some people being favored while others who are struggling or who struggled being ignored. This is sad because country comes up because of the contribution of such folks.

Oh gr8..nice to see you around...long time since I fought with you..isn't it? lol I hate it when you concede so fast..lol