Taxes and good citizens

The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time the finance minister presents the annual budget. A good part of your earning is extracted by your government as taxes: income tax, GST, land tax, house tax, luxury tax, poverty tax… That is an endless list. Even when you buy your medicines, the government will pickpocket a share at the rate of 12%. The last time I renewed my medical insurance, my government took about Rs6000 as GST [Goods & Services Tax]. In all progressive countries, the government spends money on welfare schemes for senior citizens. In Vishwaguru Modi’s country, the senior citizen’s blood is extracted while he tries to take care of himself.

What makes me write all this today? Two staff from my Panchayat came yesterday to collect plastic waste as they do every month. They charge Rs50 for that each time they come. There is a charge for everything in this country from your birth [birth certificate and registration] to your death [registration and certificate, though you won’t be paying for it].

These women who came from the Panchayat gave me a “notice” which states that the tax on my house has been raised. They raise the tax every year, of course, and hence there’s nothing new in this ‘notice’. But what drew my attention is that the tax on my house is determined on the basis of certain parameters one of which is whether the house has used luxury items such as Italian marble and/or granite tiles on the floor and teak for woodwork. The ‘notice’ mentions that I have used 100% of these things while my house actually has zero percent of these. I have used very ordinary floor tiles for the floor and planks from jackfruit tree for woodwork. 

I asked a friend who knows about these things whether I should inform the Panchayat about this anomaly so that they might reduce the tax on my house. My friend laughed raucously. Don’t you know how the government systems work? That’s the meaning of the laughter. “If you go with a complaint, they’ll find out some way to increase the tax on your house,” he said. “They will send a team to reassess your house and find ways to raise the tax. Just be quiet and pay the tax, and be a good citizen.”

The government is the biggest thug in any country, my friend says. And I laugh though not raucously.

There was a time in Kerala, my state, where a king taxed women for their breasts. If you’re interested, here’s a (hi)story on that. Now, the present kings don’t tax the breasts. They tax beauty instead. Even a haircut extracts 18% GST. Why bother myself with taxes on granite flooring and Italian marbles that I could never afford though I can afford the taxes on them? I shall be a good citizen and be quiet.