5 ms·

Ya this article is total BS. the estimates I have heard are much larger than that. Just a case in point, when you do any land/real-estate transaction in india i

Ya this article is total BS. the estimates I have heard are much larger than that. Just a case in point, when you do any land/real-estate transaction in india its common understanding that about 30-40% of the sale will be cash outside of the stamp duty. its so routine that the bribes are calculated based on this number. Now as far as non-metro areas are concerned almost all transactions are cash. every time I goto india I have hard time paying by credit cards. My rule of thumb is if a shop has glass door then likely you can use CC otherwise most mom-pop shops its all cash. Also those fo us who grew up there its a common knowledge that the only people who pay taxes are the ones that get fleeced at source, rest just pay a marginal amount & then have an 'understanding' with local IRS official. In fact its so bad that small businesses cant just opt to pay taxes and not bribe the official so its creates a competitive disadvantage. This is the reason the Income Tax dept postings are one of the most sought after. I could go on but you get the gist. now back to the articlw in question. you have to understand the mechanics of it all. for 60 years India has had the rule of cash & a very powerful people have amassed a LOT of it. it stands to reason that these people will have fair bit of influence over media (think Murdoch). if they are going to lose a majority of their fortune how do you suppose they are going to fight back? Hence all the talk about pain of a common man & oh-my-god some old people collapsed standing in line. In my view this short term pain is very empowering for India in long run. Because it frees up the locked up resources from mattresses. also as a second order effect it reduces the venues 'black money' can find home. Also it makes almost all of terrorism funding traceable, Hell you can design machine learning algorithms to identify this kind of money movement from raw transaction data. lastly IMO it will be great for Indian stock market in long run as really there are no other places left to park large sums of money ('cause real estate is going to suffer for a bit now).

kranner 10y ago
There are multiple sources that cite the 6% to 10% figure. If you have a good reason to call this article BS, please explain. You make some other remarks about all non-salary income being unreported, and people complaining about the common man because they have unreported income to hide that are too outrageous to bother refuting. Most people who did have unreported income have already converted it into new notes or bullion. The economy is not going cashless anytime soon. All we've done is show the common man his place and screw up the national economy for the foreseeable future.
- DesiLurker 10y ago
  > There are multiple sources that cite the 6% to 10% figure. If you have a good reason to call this article BS, please explain. > You make some other remarks about all non-salary income being unreported, and people complaining about the common man because they have unreported income to hide that are too outrageous to bother refuting. I am sorry if this does not gels with your modern sensibilities but growing up in indian small town you see sh*t. and one thing clear as day is Income taxes are a joke for most mom & pop shops outside of major metropolis. in fact thats reflected in IT revenue collections regional breakdown (its heavily skewed to metros). Almost the entirety of non metro economy runs on cash & its very common for small business to maintain 2 sets of books. so if you think somebody has an opportunity to avoid paying taxes without repercussions and they are just going to do that for 10% of their revenues then I do have a nice bridge to sell you. > Most people who did have unreported income have already converted it into new notes or bullion. The economy is not going cashless anytime soon. this is just too much. How did you come by this information? stop spreading this kind of BS. the entirety of replacement notes arent even printed as yet as their goal was new year release. and there is not enough bullion in indian market to cover the amount of cash conversion not even at already skyrocketing price. Also, economy does not has to go cashless just that the money needs to be traceable. plus if to take away venues to park this money like real estate then you have heavily disincentivised its accumulation. & looking at his temperament I think its amply clear that Modi is serious about fighting black money. hence the popular support despite the pain. its only the armchair economists that are suddenly worried about hardships of common man in line.
  - kranner 10y ago
    I'm going to ignore the personal jibes you've made and ask you a couple of simple questions. No hand-waving answers please. 1. I'm a shopkeeper in 2017 and all my black money is gone: burnt it, paid a fine on it, whatever. A customer comes in and makes a purchase on a new currency note. What prevents me from not reporting this to the tax authority _because_ of 2016's demonetisation? Note that there is no tracking of cash. 2. I'm a corrupt government official and I want some 'mithai' to select your tender application. I want to get paid in new 2000 rupee notes. What stops me from accepting a cash bribe?

kranner 10y ago

There are multiple sources that cite the 6% to 10% figure. If you have a good reason to call this article BS, please explain. You make some other remarks about all non-salary income being unreported, and people complaining about the common man because they have unreported income to hide that are too outrageous to bother refuting. Most people who did have unreported income have already converted it into new notes or bullion. The economy is not going cashless anytime soon. All we've done is show the common man his place and screw up the national economy for the foreseeable future.

DesiLurker 10y ago
> There are multiple sources that cite the 6% to 10% figure. If you have a good reason to call this article BS, please explain. > You make some other remarks about all non-salary income being unreported, and people complaining about the common man because they have unreported income to hide that are too outrageous to bother refuting. I am sorry if this does not gels with your modern sensibilities but growing up in indian small town you see sh*t. and one thing clear as day is Income taxes are a joke for most mom & pop shops outside of major metropolis. in fact thats reflected in IT revenue collections regional breakdown (its heavily skewed to metros). Almost the entirety of non metro economy runs on cash & its very common for small business to maintain 2 sets of books. so if you think somebody has an opportunity to avoid paying taxes without repercussions and they are just going to do that for 10% of their revenues then I do have a nice bridge to sell you. > Most people who did have unreported income have already converted it into new notes or bullion. The economy is not going cashless anytime soon. this is just too much. How did you come by this information? stop spreading this kind of BS. the entirety of replacement notes arent even printed as yet as their goal was new year release. and there is not enough bullion in indian market to cover the amount of cash conversion not even at already skyrocketing price. Also, economy does not has to go cashless just that the money needs to be traceable. plus if to take away venues to park this money like real estate then you have heavily disincentivised its accumulation. & looking at his temperament I think its amply clear that Modi is serious about fighting black money. hence the popular support despite the pain. its only the armchair economists that are suddenly worried about hardships of common man in line.
- kranner 10y ago
  I'm going to ignore the personal jibes you've made and ask you a couple of simple questions. No hand-waving answers please. 1. I'm a shopkeeper in 2017 and all my black money is gone: burnt it, paid a fine on it, whatever. A customer comes in and makes a purchase on a new currency note. What prevents me from not reporting this to the tax authority _because_ of 2016's demonetisation? Note that there is no tracking of cash. 2. I'm a corrupt government official and I want some 'mithai' to select your tender application. I want to get paid in new 2000 rupee notes. What stops me from accepting a cash bribe?