Filing of personal Income Tax returns season is upon us, the deadline is fast approaching and many citizens are still wondering why they should be paying taxes on their consumption (GST) and then again on their personal income too. Naturally, tax payers are trying to find reasons to delay their filing, hoping one day the government will have a change in their thinking and eventually outlaw personal income tax.
Meantime, those who have not filed their returns have started to receive communication in the form of emails and SMS as a reminder. Here are examples of some of the vocabulary used by the Income Tax department this year. “Pay your income tax so as to avoid stress”, “If you don’t pay there will be consequences”, “Pay your Income Tax on time to avoid paying late fee”.
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It is not an issue if the Income tax department sends reminders, but the frequency with which these reminders are sent can easily be classified under normal circumstances as spam. Worse, the vocabulary used smacks of arrogance and a direct threat to its citizens.
The word ‘stress – consequences’ could easily be avoided and if someone argues that these words are necessary to get the citizens attention, then how about the citizens reciprocating in the same language when they demand service from government servants. Imagine a citizen writes to the government “please clean the water drains of our ward otherwise there will be consequences”.
If the government machinery is still found wanting when it comes to serving its citizens then better to tone down the tax reminders, so that they sound humble.
No need to make them funny like previous years, because the process of paying tax is not at all humorous to citizens that are deprived of basic government services, have to endure high inflation and is on the wrong side of a falling rupee. All these factors combined makes tax payers wonder if there is hardly any value for the tax rupees they contribute.
For those who pay their income taxes before time and think they have done their part to the nation, imagine you have appointed a cook for your house, but somehow his cooking skills don’t match the assurances he gave at the job interview, moreover he cooks as per his liking and worse you catch him passing on groceries from your pantry to his regular line of relatives that visit him.
Now will you take all this lying down, No!, chances are you will create a racket and sack him as soon as possible, then make sure all your friends and acquaintances are aware of this cook’s record so as to protect your friends.
All this will be done because you did not get the service compared to the salary you committed to the cook. The same logic has to apply to governments and the service they are supposed to provide.
Just because Income tax department collects the tax with an iron hand and spend thrift politicians spend as they like, does not mean you miss the trick. It is our taxes that fund the country’s expenses and you better have a say and be vocal to make sure our taxes are not misused or misallocated.
No point in creating a ruckus at your cook’s below par performance, while go mute when it comes to reviewing politician’s performance. Our ability to remain as mute spectators has not only given politicians a free run but has also made them unanswerable to the voters that give them their job in the first place.
Goa has an added drawback, most politicians pay their voters some peanuts in the form of cash or favors so that the voters lose their moral responsibility to speak up and question their monkey business.
Let’ change the scene for a moment.
A lot has been written about Rishi Sunak and his race to become the Prime Minister of United Kingdom. Who’s he? Well he is the son-in-law of our own erstwhile vocal N R Narayana Murthy of Infosys, who should proudly be reading his son-in-law’s resignation letter to the UK Prime Minister, especially the following paragraph. “However, the public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognize this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning”.
Remember Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson are from the same party, but in his resignation he is not afraid to defend his values and care too hoots for his political career.
Back in India and to Murthy, few years back there was some speculation that Murthy was going to be considered to be the President of India, well that did not materialize, for whatever reasons but it seems after that episode Murthy has gone into mute mode and hardly speaks as to what is good for the country, disillusioning most of his diehard fans.
Well, Infosys also handles the Income tax payment portal and it has had some technical glitches for some time now and so it could be awkward for him to give his blunt opinion. Whatever the reason, but when unbiased feedback mechanism becomes uncertain, the country’s democracy is the loser.
Meantime, our film actor Akshay Kumar again becomes the highest Income Tax payer. He gets a certificate from the Income Tax department, but has he played his role of nation building to the fullest.
But just by paying taxes does not mean he has done his part, he needs to know where that money is spent. The actor should follow the money trail and only then will he realize how his hard earned tax money is spent irresponsibly. Fine, not so easy to track your share of tax in the maze of government departments, that is why it becomes important to become vocal and pull up the government going on the wrong track.
Just by paying your tax and remain in mute mode is not an option citizens can afford in a thriving democracy. Goa included.
(The author is a
business consultant)
