Anupam- The Dreamer

Everytime, at the time of budget presentation, the media is flooded with only one rhetoric! No brownie points for guessing it right, it is none other than how much tax relief is expected for middle class, poor, businesses etc. But, is the budget only about providing tax relief? Or if tax levy is such a misery by the State on its citizens and hence so important, then would it not be better if taxation itself is abolished completely. The followers of Nietzsche wouldn’t be happier if it is indeed a reality, as they are indoctrinated to believe that the fruits of their labour belong to them only and no one else and that why should they contribute to the State which has done nothing for them. Really???? The State has done nothing for them??? We have to go a little deeper to understand the relationship between the State and its citizens (subjects as they were called in earlier times). 

The foundation of a society in general and the State in particular was built when the people living together gave up certain freedoms and rights to the State for the common good, and in return were promised certain protection and security by the State. For example, the domain of security of their land and their homes is taken care of by the State and its agencies. And for this, the individual has to give up his/her freedom of carrying arms and ammunitions to kill an adversary. Similarly, the common goods like road, hospitals, public parks are built by the State from the money collected from the people of the region. It is just like pooling your resources to create a “common good” like roads. If the State would not have taken resources from people, then how could it build a road for use by the people themselves. Do we want to live in a society where every individual has his/her separate road, hospital or a park? If that is the scenario, probably you can buy a house in Greenland and live an isolated life there. But the reality, unfortunately, is far away from Greenland, in cities like ours. To understand this, we need to understand some basic things.

The human being as we say is a social being (I refrain from calling ourselves social “animals” because we are much more than just animals). Human likes to socialize and live in communities where they can have shared benefits from common resources. Also, this is a mechanism to overcome the individual inability to do a task. For example, everbody wants a road for travelling. But, can a single individual build all roads for himself/herself? Obviouly, no! That’s why, there was division of work in society and separate tasks were allocated to different people to work for shared benefits. That’s, why, some build roads, some others grow food, some provide services etc. Nobody in this world is self-sufficient in that sense and is dependent on others for survival. Even Nietzsche and his followers! Yes, it should be no surprise. Nobody can build their own aeroplane and fly! It requires efforts of millions of people to make an aeroplane using accumulated knowledge from generations of humanity to make something like that. Everybody is dependent on others. And who manages these others? There has to be someone to manage this task and allocate work and resources. And thus, State was created. The task of the State was to makes rules and regulations for its people, to collect money from the people and spend it back on them, in terms of public facilities like roads, parks, schools etc.

Therefore, in a way, the State collects money in the form of tax to be spent back on the people itself. It is just the facilitator of the needs of the society and a mechanism to fulfill those needs which the people can’t fulfill themselves. There is a beautiful allegory by Kalidas who said “The State is like a sun, which evaporates water (tax) from the ocean (people), which goes on to form clouds to shower back the water in the form of rain to its people (public welfare)”. In a way, the State acts for the benefit of the people only. Also, it redistributes the money from rich to the poor, like the rain redistributes water from the ocean to the deserts.

With this background at the back of our minds, lets understand why the narrative of tax relief is a very myopic view. If the State does not collect rightful taxes from its people, then from where will it get resources for welfare works? It can be a matter of debate that how should the State collect taxes and from whom so that the general public is not overburdened with taxation and taxation does not turn them into paupers. But, it certainly cannot be a question of debate that the State should only allow tax reliefs and even stop collecting taxes!

There is one more elephant in the room, which is seldom talked about! That is the connect between the taxes collected and the services provided. A few years ago, this very important issue was highlighted by the Economic Survey published by the Govt of India. The need of the hour is not about how much taxation or how much tax relief, but the actual thing to question is how efficiently the taxes collected from the people are being spent back on them. That was the foundation of taxation that we discussed a while ago, isn’t it? The people at the time of budget should question the accountability of the State, in how well the resources of the people were utilized by the State in public welfare works. Let’s understand this by an example. If people “feel” that the tax they pay will result in better roads, schools, hospitals, service delivery, then they would be happy to pay. But, if they feel that their money is not resulting in any benefit to them, then they would think that why should I pay more, even when I am not getting any benefit. It is this “connect” between the taxes and the service delivery that must be strengthened! It is this “linkage” that will boost the confidence of people in their government. It is this very relationship for which the citizens agree to form the government in the first place. And if this does not happen, then people will think it is better to “ekla chalo re”. And the rich will decide to make their own home in Greenland and stop paying taxes.

The core issue is that the people should be convinced that they are getting more than what they are paying, atleast getting in same proportion that they are paying. And if some people are so selfish that they don’t want to pay a single penny, yet desire all services from the government, I would say that please make your way to Greenland to live a solitary life. And make a home in such a place where there is no society and no government. Noone will disturb you at that place. But if you want to live in a civilized society, you must contribute your bit in making this society a better place to live in! Being selfish does not serve our humanity! Being kind and considerate and empathetic is what we want! If we consider people as our family, then we wouldn’t be unhappy if our poor hungry brethren are given a roti to eat by the government, even if we have to pay a little more from our kitty.

What if even some of us think like that? What if everyone of us thinks like that? What if the people running the State think like that?

Till next time……..