Thief in a Suit

“A Government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.” – Ayn Rand

Story 1:

Ram is the father of two children and husband of a beautiful wife, Janaki. This family is the perfect example of an ordinary middle class family. Ram works as a Manager in a reputed construction firm while Janaki is a loyal house wife. Working 6 hours a week and 8 hours a day, Ram earns an average of Rs. 25,000 per month and the family stays in a rented flat.

Scenario 1:

One day, a robber visits the house, sees the family asleep, but Ram and Janaki are awake. Seeing the gun pointed at them, they plead to leave the family alone and that they will give whatever he wants. The robber asks Ram to hand in all the cash and the jewellery and put them all in a bag for him. After he got what he wanted, the thief left the house. Ram reports the incident and the description of the robber to the police. Luckily, he had insured the jewellery, but the cash was not.

Answer this question: Who is the bad guy?

Scenario 2:

One day, a man knocks on the door, dressed as a courier guy. Janaki opens the door, and the man enters. Also, 5-6 people who were hiding in the staircase entered while the courier fellow had a knife pointed at Janaki. The children are scared, but obey their father’s order to stay in the room. The courier fellow introduced himself as Mohan and said that he wanted to have a chat with the couple. He reveals that he controls this area, and he takes a share from all the area residents for their own protection. Mohan tells Hari that looking at the house and the family, he assumes that Ram will be earning around 30,000 per month and that 20% (Rs. 7,500) should be given to him, first week of every month. Once Hari handed the money over, Mohan tells him that “If you go to the police, lets just say that we know where your children are studying.” All the men leave the house.

Who is the bad guy?

Scenario 3:

Ram’s salary was reduced by 10%. Though his cost to the company figure remained the same, the amount that eventually reached Ram was reduced by 10%. The company explains that they handle their employees’ income tax, so that the employees need not worry about the income tax individually.

Who is the bad guy?

Income tax is the annual charge levied on an individual’s earned income. Behind any action, there should be a motive, which in turn is powered by an idea. If we simplify the concept of “income tax”, the Government tells Ram that he owes the Government a certain percentage of his income. Just imagine, that you earn 10,000 bucks on your own, for which you sweated so hard. And then someone comes to you and says that you have to give him 10% of your salary. What would your reaction be?

There are different types of taxation and taxation is one of the primary revenue streams for the Government. For example, property tax makes sense because you are using a piece of land on earth and you have to pay for the opportunity that you are depriving the other people of owning that particular piece of land. But, no one has the right / should have the right to your hard earned money. Income tax is synonymous for daylight robbery as it rests on this illogical premise.