Budget 2010

Pranab Babu's budget 2010 offers nothing for the people of lower income group which unfortunately constitutes 90% of the population. On the contrary, he has imposed excise duty on petrol and deisel by 1% which has resulted in increase in petrol price by Rs 2.67 per litre and diesel by Rs 1.58 per litre. There is already an inflationary trend in the country which will escalate further as a result of increase in petrol and diesel price thus hitting the common man below the belt.
If you study the revised tax structure, you will note that more the income, more the relief given in income tax. This means, the poor will become poorer and rich will become richer. There is already a wide gap between the rich and poor which will further widen with revised tax structure. There is no relief in I.Tax for people with income less than Rs 3 lacs per annum whereas people with income between 3 and 8 lacs get 10% relief. That means a person who is earning Rs 8 lacs per annum can save up to Rs 50,000 whereas a person whose income is Rs 3 lacs and below cannot save anything.

My question to you is, is it worth paying income tax to the government considering the benefits our government gives to the people in lieu of the tax it collects. Let us see what are the tax components imposed by the government at the state and central level. In the direct tax category comes income tax, Professional tax, property tax, sales tax, gift tax, wealth tax, service tax etc. In the indirect tax category comes excise duty, customs duty, stamp duty, Octroi etc. As a consumer, the common man has to pay indirect taxes depending on the type of products and services he purchases. Indirect tax is collected through the price of the product in which the indirect tax components are built in. Apart from the indirect tax, the consumer has to also bear the brunt of freight charges. Now, if any of the tax components is increased by the government, it will have cascading effect on the price which is going to become dearer as a result of this. Freight charges is dependent on petrol and diesel prices. If petrol price is increased, it will increase freight charges which will ultimately impact sales price of commodities.

Now, let us see what the government gives people in lieu of tax collected.

No housing for poor( Most people live in shanties)
No electricity ( Most of villages do not have electricity)
No water ( Even city like Mumbai has shortage of water)
No health insurance
No retirement benefits
No proper road infrastructure ( most of roads full of potholes, dirt, filth etc)
No footpaths to walk( All footpaths are occupied by roadside vendors , thanks to police)
Poor drainage system ( waterlogging is common during rains)
Unhygienic condition of public hospitals ( Even a healthy man will get infection)
Skyrocketing food prices ( beyond the reach of common man)
Adulterated milk, Ghee, Butter, Masala ( dangerous for health)
Spurious drugs

Only 2% of population pay income tax. Even this 2% which constitutes mainly salaried class pay tax because Tax is deducted at source. If given an opportunity, even 2% would not like to pay tax at all. The reason is obvious.

Let us see where does the money go which the government collects through taxes.

Ministers and beaurocrats pockets ( extra ordinary perks and Lavish lifestyles )
Middlemens pockets, Hoarders, Black marketeers who are mainly responsible for price rise
Police ( which does not function)
Mumbai municipal corporations ( which is highly corrupt)
Military Hardware ( Kickbacks to the tune of hundreds of crores given during acquisition of hardware)
Members of Parliament (Frequent disturbances and walkouts disrupting sessions)

If the government is clean, efficient, corruption free, people friendly, more and more people of this country would like to pay taxes which will increase revenues manifold which will ultimately wipe out fiscal deficit and increase GDP.