There was a time when only those with truly interesting incomes paid that levy, the income tax. The argument was then, as it is now, that those who benefit more from the existence of this lovely society we’ve built pay more for the maintenance of this lovely society. The idea has much to recommend it of course. At which point we might want to consider adopting a part of India’s income tax system. Let’s go back to that idea that only those with truly interesting incomes do get taxed on said incomes.…
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Modi’s Indian Demonetisation Worked – Dependent Upon Your Meaning Of Worked Of Course
Narendra Modi suddenly upped and announced that all Indian banknotes worth above a pittance were invalid. New notes would be issued at some point, all the old notes well, the only way for them to retain their value would be to deposit them in a bank. Chaos ensued – not that chaos is a rarity in the Indian economy. There was some thought that all that black money floating around would not be processed through the banks and that this would produce a dividend for the government.…
See MoreExtremely Sensible – Jaitley Says India Will Move To Single GST Rate
Arun Jaitley has intimated that India will try to move to a single GST rate – somewhere between 12 and 18% – which is an extremely sensible idea. There is no particular reason why government should be favouring the consumption of some goods or services over others so all should be taxed at that same rate. As to why taxing consumption, well, it’s necessary to tax something because government itself is necessary. No, not everything government does, nor even most of the things done by most governments but some really is necessary.…
See MoreOf Course Not All Indian Money In Swiss Banks Is Tax Dodging – Piyush Goyal
This isn’t quite how Piyush Goyal has put the point but it is what he means – of course not all Indian source money in Swiss banks is there in order to dodge taxes. For the Indian situation is rather like the British one, not exactly, but close enough for this point. It’s entirely possible to be an Indian national – and thus have your account recorded as being Indian – without actually owing tax in India.…
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