“Huh?!!!”
“Yeah!! Why should I?!!”
“Why should you what man?”
“Pay taxes!!”
My friend and I had met up after a long time. Both being recent graduates employed in good companies, had just gotten plugged into the business of making obscene amounts of money when compared to the effort that actually went into work. The above questions came up because it was the beautiful season of the year when incredible amount of paperwork needs to be done just so that you don’t end up in prison.
Cut to the chase: ‘Tax Season‘.
If anything, I just love these kind of arguments and my friends are very careful not to lure me into these because I will sure as hell talk their ears off. This fella didn’t seem to be so bright somehow. I had gotten my cue. Sounded great to me!
“Hmmm… So you think you shouldn’t pay taxes?”
“Of course man! Its my income! Its not like the government does anything for me! What right do they have to just demand a portion of my income?!”, he said.
“Are you sure about that man? You aware of what happens in countries like Somalia, Sudan and many others?”, I said.
“Huh? What has that got to do with any of this!”, he said.
“Well, Quite a lot. Do you think you will have a job if it wasn’t for this economic infrastructure and social framework that has taken so long to build, mostly with the tax payer’s money?”
“In English please.”
“What I mean to say is suppose I air drop you in Sierra Leonne or Sudan, what good is your education? It is likely that you will get shot before you get on your feet. The reason you are what you are today is because of the amount of time the society system has spent in nurturing you, teaching you, so that you can get on your feet and give back to society. Now that your turn has come, you are cribbing?”
“What are you talking about man? Society nurtured me!? It was my parents!”
I was beginning to get tired of this fella. The big picture seemed to be evading him, ironically like a businessman evading tax.
“Your country provides you with whatever is required for you to live life like a norman person. Your country provides you with security, relief from thunderstorms or landslides or earthquakes if you happen to be stuck right in the middle of it, with a chance for you to have a family and provide for them. You would appreciate it more if you were stuck in the middle of a civil war ridden country. We have a system and it takes money to run that system.”
Somehow this had rung a bell, but it wasn’t over yet.
“Fine, you have forced me to change my stance on this. Maybe taxes are necessary but look at how it is utilized!”
“Whose fault do you think that is?”, I said.
“The political system of course! Our politicians pocket the tax money without a care in the world!”, he said.
“Tell me something, who elected these clowns?”, I said.
“Not me of course!”, he said.
“Really? And you see no problems with that attitude?”, I said.
“Wait a minute… You are trying to say that the political system is screwed because of me?! You kidding me right?”, he said.
“Think of it this way. Individually an ant can do nothing. In a group they form the most efficient bunch of workoholics. We are similar. Each one of us can brush off the responsiblity of correcting the way this country is run. Even though this responsibility is of miniscule proportion per individual, when a billion of us succumb to this generalized sense of apathy, it becomes a mess. Our country is a democratic system which is ridden with lack of general consensus, demography based and territorial conflicts, caste issues, etc which form the basis for manipulation and bias. Hence the ‘government by the people’ part rarely happens. So in totality the only ones to be blamed are the ‘one billion and counting’ people of beloved India, you inclusive.”
“Easy for you to say. What can one man like me do?”, he said.
“That is all we say. That is all we do”, I said.
That is all we do…
