Back in black

Not so long ago I read this article in BusinessWorld that throws light on the black side.


While I must say, BusinessWorld deserves full credit for having got out something on an area which no one dares to touch, the article at its very best was academic and was threw as much light as a pencil light does in a dark, deep coal mine.

Needless to say, this is one thing that slips away, quite modestly and rather uncanningly from the view of millions of salaried middle class, all of whom are content servicing their EMIs to the Government in the form of direct taxes even before their money sees daylight.

It certainly is not surprising that no Government, State or Central, Federal or otherwise, even wants to speak about this. While P. Chidambaram talks about increasing the tax net, this hardly seems to find a mention any where. To top it all, we have an atrocious Cash Withdrawal Tax which is predicated on the fundamental hypothesis that an insignificant fee would give clues to the trail and hopefully (this is wistful thinking at its very best) act as a barricade for origination of cash hardly seems to yield results that anyone would be proud of.

One of the downsides of India being a democracy is that a vicious yet comfortable cycle has been created that allows for bureaucrats, politicans and business men to co-exist by paying the others in the symbiosis a mere fraction of what they would have to pay if they were to walk the line. So, what can be done ? Any thoughts on this ?