" Tax Fury "

13:51 News 0 Comments

Yesterday, we went to Kobe Sizzlers restaurant for a dine-in. Although it was a treat from one of our friends, I was shocked to see the types of taxes levied on the bill. We had food worth 1800 bucks and on top of that we paid 525 just as taxes.

Service tax, value-added tax, service charges and what not. They all have become a part of our daily routine. We pay direct taxes as part of our salary and indirect taxes on a daily basis. Even the everyday groceries that we buy includes taxes, which we as the end consumer has no choice but to pay. Another interesting fact is that the discounts that we get on various products are irrelevant since the end cost of the product by and large is the same as the selling price. Being an economics student I am always keen in analyzing the game of discount played by the corporations. Selling price is way different and lower than the MRP, which is the maximum retail price. MRP always includes taxes, so if a merchant gives you discount on the MRP, it's not a discount on the actual cost of the product, but a small share of the tax that we are liable to pay as consumers.

The tax policy of the government lately has hurt majorly the middle-class group. There is no economic policy that government has come up for the majority of Indian population. The salaries/earnings increase at a much lower-rate as compared to the inflation that has hit us hard. Think about the petrol prices, which were somewhere around 50 and now have drastically increased to 73-75 in the metro cities. An average household uses petrol driven cars, bikes, scooters which makes it difficult to manage a budget. People have stopped investing like past, since they are left with no money after making their ends meet. The fiscal policy of the government and the RBI's decision to continuously raise the interest rates, have had a negative impact leading to slow economic growth for the country.

I hope the new government that sworn's in this weekend comes up with solutions that have a positive and immediate impact on economic growth resulting in high gross domestic product which will eventually improve the standard of living and make our country economically and socially strong like other developed nations.