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Taxes and Rules


“There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him,” said Robert A. Heinlein. All governments have taxed their citizens for everything from the needle in the haystack to the breasts that grew in the due course on a woman. I'm not exaggerating. India taxes sewing needles. The princely state of Travancore taxed the low caste women if they wanted to cover their breasts. 

 If you want to buy a vehicle in India today, you'll end up paying more money than the price of the vehicle in the form of various taxes and fees. There's a tax on the vehicle (the highest slab in the country), on your use of the roads (which were constructed with your tax money in the first place), on insurance of all imaginable sorts, on your license, and what not. 

 You pay all that and more, but the roads will continue to gape at you with their potholes that can kill you. Everything in this country seems to be designed to kill the citizens. But the government claims that it is looking after your welfare. Wow! That's great, isn't it? You have a government that cares so much about your welfare.

 Now the government has multiplied by ten the fines for breaking certain traffic rules. You don't use a helmet while riding your bike. Okay, don't use, but pay Rs 1000 to the government. That's how the government cares for you. Your bike nosedives into one of those goddamn potholes and kills you. Well, the government has ensured that your insurance will take care of your postmortem and funeral expenditures. Of course, your corpse will get the amount after a deduction of Rs 1000 because you were not wearing the stipulated helmet. 

 Some of these new rules are needed, of course. Too many children drive these days and hence regulations are required on that. There's much drunken driving and the fines are needed. It's a different matter that if you are a VIP like Sriram Venkitaraman you can get away with not only drunken driving but also murderous driving. That's India. The rules are for the common folks. The taxes too. 

 I don't think that the hefty new fines are going to make India's roads any safer. What India needs is a culture that respects existing rules. What India needs is a culture that respects people. 

 PS. Written for Indispire Edition 292 #trafficrules

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Comments

  1. Pradeep NairSeptember 21, 2019 at 1:03 PM

    I agree, we need a culture that respects rules and people.
    Hopefully long and harsh arm of the law will instill that culture, slowly but surely, among all of us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 21, 2019 at 4:38 PM

      I was punished left and right for anything and everything when i was young. I became a rebel. Punishment doesn't create a culture. Especially when the ruler is a known criminal.

      We need a good leader.

      Delete
    2. wingsSeptember 22, 2019 at 10:34 AM

      Hundred percent true!

      Delete
  2. wingsSeptember 22, 2019 at 10:36 AM

    The more the amount of tax, the happier the traffic police would be!

    Very disgusting to learn about the tax on lower caste women! Thanks for throwing light on that too, sir.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 22, 2019 at 10:40 AM

      The government is discovering new ways for filling the coffers. Imagine someone being fined an amount that's higher than the price of his bike!

      Delete
  3. Arvind PasseySeptember 22, 2019 at 3:25 PM

    Unbridled sarcasm... I guess, you may have reasons for this tone. Most of us will have a similar opinion. However, everything today is caught between rights and duties... though as a responsible citizen, I believe the hefty penalties will also, in the long term, ensure excellence in services.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Anny" The AnuragSeptember 22, 2019 at 7:05 PM

    well i am not fully agreed with you . It's we Indian who doesn't care about rules and regulation that is why we had the most accidental cases in a year through out the world .

    corruption is different thing but it was needed

    one will only understand when they loose someone coz' of these stupid fellows who doesn't care about road rules.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A Lady LawyerSeptember 24, 2019 at 9:02 PM

    I agree with you. Indians must change their mind-set for there to be any lasting, progressive change. Well-written post.
    Noor Anand Chawla

    ReplyDelete

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