Sunday, August 3, 2008

Taxing Matters

Today I read a article about the list of top tax payers in the country. It was intriguing to see who were among the top taxpayer as well as who weren't. Mayawati was in the list. As usual some top actors and cricketers were there as were many industrialists. Scamster Telgi was there too, though i don't know if he is in prison or not!! The big surprise is Ambani brothers do not figure in the top 200 tax payer list, while their mother does. I don't know the authenticity of the article, but i was left wondering how come the one of the richest people in the world don't figure in the top 200 tax payers in their country. More so when you read from newspapers that one of them is building a 27 floor $1 or 2 billion home. Well generally it seems like Indians and paying tax doesn't go along well. It is sort of like it is a foolish thing to pay taxes. People come up with all sort of reasons to not pay tax, like "first get the rich to pay tax", "government is corrupt, so my tax money will to the pockets of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats", "why should i pay tax, the government has not done anything to me" and so on. The salaried class are the ones who mostly pay the taxes as it is deducted from the salary by their employers and they are the ones who grumble (mostly justifiably) that nobody else is paying taxes. Also there are holy cows amongst some category of people, example - agriculture, traders that they won't be taxed no matter what they earn. If I am correct, less than 5% of the population pays taxes in India, while it is many times more in other countries, particularly in the developed countries. Obviously there is a direct correlation between a high percentage of the population paying taxes and development. Government will have more money to spend in infrastructure, education, healthcare etc. If people pay taxes, they have a stake in the country and have the right to demand that the government deliver the services they expect. If we are going to stick to the same excuses, then it is going to be like the chicken and egg story!! and we will remain the same.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Federer Fights Back

This is to the tennis enthusiasts. I wanted to write this blog some time back immediately after the French open finals after the way Nadal beat Federer. At that time it seemed to me that there is no way Federer can win French Open while Nadal is around. While everybody agrees that Federer has the game that is stylish and classy, I always felt that he lacked the determination and will to win like Nadal. The other thing that stuck me is Federer’s reluctance to make adjustments to his game to counter Nadal. It has been a few years now that Nadal is relentlessly attacking and exploiting Federer’s backhand with any response from Federer. It used to be in French Open, but now also in Wimbledon from this year. Federer seems to believe (or is it arrogance) that he doesn’t need to do anything different, whatever is the situation. Coming back to this years Wimbledon, it was an excellent high quality match, though I don’t know if it is the best match in Wimbledon ever. Nadal was a worthy winner I think the match really started after the rain break in the 3rd set. In the first two sets Federer didn’t look like a 5 time champion at all. May be at the break the realization must have struck him that he is about to lose his prized possession. What followed was classic tennis and I was unfortunate to have not watched after the 2nd rain break. Though Federer won the 3rd and 4th sets, it is to Nadal’s credit that Federer had to win in tiebreakers. More importantly Federer fought back, probably be most I have seen him do. How he is going to bounce back remains to be seen. As for Nadal, now he has won in grass, his next frontier is the hard courts. I always felt that Nadal’s game is a lot physical in nature. His ability to reach balls that would be otherwise be clean winners is what puts doubts in other players minds and induce errors by forcing them to try highly risky shots to end the points. So a lot will depend on his ability to maintain his fitness given the running he is doing and the resultant wear and tear.