Sunday Snippets: Tax Haven
By Venkatesh Raghavan
Tax haven as a concept clicked in course of my discussions with my friend Amir as we deliberated the pronouncement from a Bangalore court. The court had ruled that finding unaccounted-for money in crores of rupees from a legislator’s residence cannot be grounds enough to make claims of corruption or bribery. We had drowned two cups of hot Irani tea in the café. Our conversation was somewhat along these lines.
Amir: It seems that being a part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is like a sign of indemnity against any charges being pressed against you.
Me: Actually, the BJP will soon become a very progressive party. They are preparing the way to legalise corruption and payment of bribes by cutting short on unnecessary litigations. We may soon see the day when everything operates smoothly and people don’t need to keep running from pillar to post to get clearance from procedural delays.
Amir: What do you mean by smooth functioning? Don’t you think people will never be able to get recourse to justice?
Me: It’s very simple Amir. When everything is legal and above the table, I mean including bribes, the pricing for greasing palms will get standardised and both bureaucrats and our politicians will be able to efficiently discharge their duties.
Amir: How on earth do you expect people to bear the burden of corruption besides having to pay taxes for the salaries of the bureaucrats and politicians?
Me: Let me give you an example. A person appointed in the Pune bureau of a prominent daily newspaper received a pink slip. He was a local beat reporter. He requested that he be allowed to work free of cost and will not demand any emoluments. The bosses agreed. When his Mumbai-based boss sought to visit the Pune office, our man had arranged everything from driving him to a comfortable hotel to taking care of all his local travel needs. Similarly, when bribes are legalized, I don’t think politicians and bureaucrats would ever have to bother about getting their salaries.
Amir: How is it going to benefit the country? The government is not getting any revenue and people are still continuing to pay their taxes. It does not make sense.
Me: I will give you another small example. Any beat constable in some of the cash-rich areas of our city, meaning in any of the plum postings, would feel ashamed to touch their salaries. For, their monthly collections are much higher.
Amir: Kindly explain to me in what way the common people benefitted. You are just asking people to pay bribes and legalise all illegal activities.
Me: Have you heard about government servants contributing a day’s salary for causes like earthquakes or say tornados? Well, government servants will readily sacrifice their entire month’s salary voluntarily when bribing becomes official. A month’s salary for all government servants, both state and central, will contribute in a big way to financing all our social welfare and infrastructure requirements. It’s after all a win-win situation. I am sure you can take it forward in all spheres of government functioning.
Amir: Do you suggest we have to stop paying taxes? It becomes a double whammy as we are also required to pay bribes.
Me: You don’t see it clearly Amir. When all spheres of the government department will only be collecting bribes, the case will be the same in the instance of the Income Tax authorities. They too will be collecting only bribes and the tax problem will be taken care of once and for all.
Amir: You are implausible.
