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I am reposting this comment, which was inexplicably marked [dead] within seconds of being posted, even though it is a brand new account with no comment or submi
by anigbrowl 2y ago
I am reposting this comment, which was inexplicably marked [dead] within seconds of being posted, even though it is a brand new account with no comment or submission history at all.
burnermore 2 minutes ago [dead] | parent | context | unvouch | favorite | on: India: A billion people have no real money to spen...
Indians who have huge spending potential are in huge numbers. They are just leaving India.
High skilled Indians are leaving in large numbers due to the tax regime that India is. I think it was 2022 where we recorded the largest number of Indians surrendering Indian citizenship. It's like India prepares and grooms them and they just leave. And I dont blame them.
Every single damn thing can be traced back to tax we are burdened with irrespective of left/right govt in power.
We pay tax like first world countries but get services like poorest of the poor countries.
Corporates are levied high tax. And international corporates even more. The argument is to support Indian companies.
And almost every Indian company provide horrible services which is why Indians always prefer foreign products/services. Now with International companies levied hefty tax, they cut corners, increase prices. So in effect we pay more and always get bad experiences.
Just take BS4 to BS6 transition in automobiles. Vehicles with a larger width or something was added with luxury tax and many of companies moved to cut corners to stay in business. My car has provision and setup for ventilated seats but its switched off to cut corners.
We dont get any good electronic products cos high import costs. And companies which has released stuff always have limited options or pay higher price for the same setup than everyone in the world. IIRC Indians may the most for an Apple product in the world. I donno if things have changed after they moved production here. I dont think so.
We pay 15 years worth of road tax in advance and we still have to pay for toll plazas. And we have horrible roads.
Oh and we dont any high quality products we produce. Whether it is tea (assam, darjeeling), coffee, nuts like cashew nuts, fruits. We get 3rd, 4th or quality and everything in 1st quality is exported.
Automobiles as well. There are automobile factories which produce high quality stuff for EU in India and the same factories produce subpar thing for India.
I can go on and on. This govt changed some things for middle class in this budget. So lets see.
- burnermore 2y agoThank you. I updated the comment. I donno if you can see. Can I do something if my comment was not adhering to any guidelines?
- x-complexity 2y agoI don't know why, but you're somehow being targeted; This comment was also made dead. If comments from newcomers are no longer allowed on HN, the hidden censors should speak up now to explicitly say so. Silent censorship is the harbinger of public debate's death.
- burnermore 2y ago[dead]
- windex 2y agoI hear they randomly seize vehicles older than 15 years and crush them even if perfectly maintained.
- hy4000days 2y ago[dead]
- burnermore 2y ago[dead]
- mk89 2y ago> We pay tax like first world countries but get services like poorest of the poor countries. I asked chatgpt to give a comparison, and I am not sure which country you're comparing against, but it seems people in India pay significantly less than in EU for example. (20% vs 40%, etc...) EDIT: as cliché as it might sound, how about blaming it on the really high level of corruption spread across all layers? Corruption is a disease for a country, especially when you can bribe authorities for very small money.
- edwcross 2y agoYou don't always need to blame corruption. Inefficiencies of all kinds (due to lack of education, lack of infrastructure, etc) also cause most 3rd world countries to have this kind of situation where services are paid for at least twice, once in the form of taxes, and then again to private companies that compensate the lack of quality of the public ones (education, health, security, transportation, etc). The only "advantage" these countries have, is that labor is cheaper, so some kinds of labor-intensive activities could in theory be as good as, or even better, than first-world ones (other than climate-related activities such as farming, which naturally benefit from better sun/weather). But the overhead leads to overall worse outcomes. Corruption does make it worse, but even in a corruption-less environment, the other inefficiencies might still lead to a scenario similar to "pay tax like first world countries but get services like poorest of the poor countries". Of course, if only all of these privacy-destroying technologies and surveillance-state apparatus could be used to detect corruption, maybe one could have a technological corruption-less dystopia where every figure of power is tracked all the time, as is in a reality show? (In the worst case, we might see some privacy-restoring contraptions emerge from the dynamics of such systems.)
- mk89 2y agoInefficiencies are often the consequence of corruption or a mindset/culture that fosters favoritism vs merit, because not everyone is either smart enough to want to improve their companies or is willing to do what it takes to do so. Which could mean not hiring that friend that is not good, or that brother in law that shouldn't be doing this job, etc. Every action has a reaction, even a small one. You just have to live fine with it and accept it. Not saying we need to become machines, just saying we shouldn't complain if only friends of friends work in a hospital and maybe 1-2 doctors are good... And no, I am not talking about "I referred him, and he is good for that position". I am talking about people who have no clue and are hired nonetheless, just because of family or friends. I come from a country where all these issues exist and one thing I learnt: it has nothing to do with taxes. On the contrary, the more you raise them, the more tax evasion will be. And the more you'll need to bribe or cheat the system.
- dumbledoren 2y ago> Every single damn thing can be traced back to tax we are burdened with irrespective of left/right govt in power. The working majority is burdened with such taxes so that the rich and corporations can get tax breaks. All these taxes, even including the sales taxes are means to dump the tax burden on the majority and give tax cuts to the rich.
- llampx 2y agoThis is true in all countries.
- suraci 2y ago> Oh and we dont any high quality products we produce. Whether it is tea (assam, darjeeling), coffee, nuts like cashew nuts, fruits. We get 3rd, 4th or quality and everything in 1st quality is exported. This reminds me of a documentary I just watched, in a village in Peru, mangoes couldn't be sold and could only rot in the fields, "They can transport tens of thousands of tons of drugs, but can't even get a pound of ripe mangoes out."
- kristianp 2y agoUsually you can vouch for the comment of a new account.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- roncesvalles 2y agoThis is generally inaccurate and not particularly insightful. Indians by and large aren't "paying tax like first world countries". The income tax rate is comparable to other countries and India actually has extremely low tax compliance. Only employees of medium and large companies report their incomes accurately. As for low quality products, well it's just catering to the price point of the Indian consumer. The number of people in India willing to pay $10 for 50 grams of Assam is so low that it's not even worth putting out such a product in the market. Indians are also notoriously price-sensitive.
- burnermore 2y ago[dead]
- burnermore 2y ago[dead]
- llampx 2y agoWhat you said doesn't refute the point. India has low tax compliance, so people who pay taxes (middle-class, salary jobs, no way to hide income or wealth) shoulder an unfair part of the overall tax burden. This is obviously being worked on by the government, but it remains true. Once you add up the expenditures from double-spending (for example private health insurance, private retirement saving, private school, toll roads) the tax burden is well above what you would pay in an EU country.
- roncesvalles 2y agoThe correct solution is to make India income-tax free. The corporate middle class that pays income tax is also the main driver of discretionary consumption. Pursuing personal tax compliance in a country such as India is futile.