A POOR LITTLE RICH COUNTRY!

Usually the Union Budget is a hyped up event providing some masala and 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 shayari or 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 even Tier 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