The budget of this year has brought a smile on the faces of tax payers especially the educated class more. However I feel that the government could have increased the basic exemption limit. Obviously the government would have thought about this and then decided to provide the tax breaks without tinkering the basic exemption limit.
Also we need to consider that a budget needs to be looked from a political angle and not only from social and economical angle. Finance Minister who announces the budget is a politician at the end of the day.
My point is that instead of directly increasing the slab from 5L to 8L, the government could have increased the limit to say 6.5L and increased the basic exemption limit. One of my friend who works for Citi bank made this point to his colleague who told him that if you dont like the 40K you save give it to me. This was a shock to me. There is no sense of belongingness towards the country. Taxes are a liability rather than an opportunity. We need to understand that its a contribution.
I was checking Give India site to make some donation and one of my colleagues told me that it seems I have excess money. I just smiled and said yes.
I have heard people give excuses like why should we pay taxes we dont get benefit out of it. The money doesnt reach to the bottom of the pyramid. Politicians gulp the money,etc... Now there will be savings in terms of tax which means now the same people who gave excuses should find opportunities on their own to do charity and reach to the down trodden people. In other words next year we should see a surge in the donations made by people ideally.
I have been saying this time and again that it is not about money whether you do make a difference but its about willingness to influence a change. I sincerely hope that in times to come we cut down our ambitions (read as greed) and work towards reducing the inequality in the society.
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3 comments:
great thought sir!i can help u with places for donations if u wish too!
Hello sir,
I totally am in agreement with your post that people try to give an excuse of politicians eating away all the tax contributions which doesnot reach the bottom of the pyramid.
But at the same time, I have never seen any person donating the money they save by planning their taxes.
You are right sir, its the will of a person is what which matters.
I would love to pen a live example with regard to your post. On an audit trip to Kolkata, I came across some people in the organisation for which we were appointed as auditors, who used to collect contributions from their monthly salary in order to donate it for the purpose of education of some unfortunate children living below the fly overs and in slums who are deprived of education.
But what really surprised me was that their earnings were something in the range of Rs.7,000 to 10,000 per month. There were many earning as good as Rs.50,000 to 1,50,000 per month who never engaged in such activities.
That day I realised that its not how much money we earn that matters to engage in being socially committed, but its only our will to do it.
Till the time the educated class living in our society don't realise it, acquiring fair amount of equality in our country is like day dreaming.
I am really joyed to know that there are atleast some people around like you who really think of such issues. Even I do thing of such matters. But at the same time I am worried that my life don't end only thinking......
I agree with you Sir.
The tax that we pay is not used productively. I loved the idea of savings in terms of tax.
Moreover, to people who think their money is not used for the development of the country and is gulped by the politicians, I'd say, if that was the case, India would have remained the same it was after Independence. But India has foregone changes and Indian market is now competing with the global market which is a great sign of development.
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