7/29/2019 A Poor Little Rich Country

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A POOR LITTLE RICHCOUNTRY!

Usually the Union Budget is a hyped up event providing some masalaand some livelihood to the

media, the experts, the professionals and the industry bodies. In fact, getting interviewed for your

comments on the budget makes you an overnight celebrity, at least for some days. Our collective

experience has been that the Budget seems to have lost its charm in initiating constructive brain

storming and probably in a weeks time most would forget about it, and life would continue as

usual.

Finance Ministers, over the years have followed the same old back thumping, statistics, exaggerated

glorification of smaller routine things and of course ending with shayarior poems. Nothing to tickle

the mind, one would say! But this time there was one statistic spelled out by the FM which actually

stunned me, as if a bolt from out of the blue!

The FM, to my utter disbelief and astonishment, stated that there are 42800 income tax assesses

who have a taxable income of more than Rs one crore. Initially I thought I heard it wrong. But the

FM, as if reading my thoughts, said I repeat 42800....!

A thought sprang in my mind. Only 42800 people out of 120 crore people in India earn more than

Rs one crore per year? Statistically that is 0.00035%. In fact this would include individuals and HUFs

of politicians, industrialists, and celebrities. So the FM and the Income Tax department are

suggesting that we have just 42800 crorepatis from out of 28 states and 7 union territories? Thats

real bull***t! Utter nonsense! And to top it, the FM was actually taking pride in saying this!

India, one of the fastest growing economies of the world, has just 42800 crorepatis ? If this is indeed

true, are we not amongst the poor countries? Mr FM, just take a stroll in the posh localities of evenTier 1 and Tier 2 cities and you will be shocked! The figure you mentioned may perhaps pertain to

only a couple of metros or Tier 1 cities not the whole of India! For starters, do visit the Diamond

city of Gujarat and you will actually feel aghast!

While every year the FM gives his logic of widening the tax base, they end up targeting only those

who are of the lower or middle class.Mr FM, it would be much cost efficient to widen your tax

base by targeting the teaming crorepatis who are not filing their returns nor paying taxes, instead of

harassing the ever-gullible middle class tax payer. Ten new crorepatis in your tax net would be

equal to one thousand middle class tax payers! Think of the resultant real savings in resources!

Hope someone in the inner circle of the finance ministry examines this simple fact and enlightens

our decision makers.

If in the next few years this super-rich tax-paying 42,800 figure does not become 4,28,000, I would

presume our FM and the Tax department may have grossly failed as tax collectors.

Surely till such time India will remain a poor little rich country!

May God bless, or rather save, India !

CA Rajiv D Khatlawala