Taxation conundrum

Apropos ‘The continuing tax gift to India Inc’ (October 4), one is led to believe that the government is lenient with direct taxes leading to ‘extreme concentration of wealth in a few hands’.

But the relative base of taxpayers in India is very small, especially for personal income tax. With increasing numbers slipping through the tax net, the burden falls disproportionately on the rest. India’s share of personal income tax in total tax revenues, at about 25 per cent, is on a par with OECD (rich) countries. It cannot get better.

Does government need to have more revenues to spend on infrastructure and public services, or should the activity be privatised leaving money in the hands of the private sector so that the same money is spent in an efficient, transparent, and accountable manner. The telecom sector is a case in point.

V Vijaykumar

Pune

UPI transaction fee

Apropos ‘Payment apps, banks bat for fee on UPI transactions’ (October 4), public sector banks and National Payments Corporation of India have invested huge amounts on implementation of digital technology in the payment system, which is acting now as the massive enabler for seamless funds transfer for all types of online transactions.

The rise in quantum of funds involved in UPI transactions reveal users’ confidence in the digitalised payment system, which is completely free as on date. Considering the recurring investments that the stakeholders need to make in updating and upgrading the technology, including hardware and the network, the proposal of introducing graded charges on UPI transactions is quite welcome.

However, in order not to dampen the spirit of the users, small value transactions up to ₹500 could be exempted from the proposed charge.

RV Baskaran

Chennai

Far-reaching judgment

This refers to the edit “Take a bow” (October 4). Inclusion of marital rape within the ambit of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act is a visionary verdict of the Supreme Court.

The trauma of emotional hurt to the hapless wife caused by forced sex irrespective of her health or willingness is too high to be ignored just because such cases may be just a few.

The extension of Act to all women is an equally path-breaking verdict. But it will not work unless the government and society implement it effectively by removing the social, economic and religious hurdles and by providing requisite healthcare facilities and trained professionals.

YG Chouksey

Pune

Election manifestos

The Election Commission’s proposal to political parties to corroborate their manifesto, invariably littered with freebies, with financial viability may be a fool’s errand. Who shall vet such a financial plan in the first place?

Does an ordinary voter have the acumen and propensity to comprehend such complex computations?

What action shall the ECI initiate if ex-ante and ex-post figures do not match, which in all likelihood willl happen.

Prospective voters, regardless of their gullibility quotient, do not take the manifesto as gospel truth and are not swayed to a large extent.

Moreover, all parties in the fray promise handouts in one form or the other thus organically the playing field is levelled.

Deepak Singhal

Noida

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