Tax season here in the United States is just beginning. For the next 3½ months (or longer for ultra-procrastinators), we’ll fret and figure, calculate and curse. Even when we manage to get back some money from Uncle Sam, the process for most of us is, at best, infuriating.
Well, we’re not alone. From the It’s a Small World file (sorry, I know everyone is hearing that dang Disney ride song now) comes some tax news from India.
Over on that side of the globe, the filing season wrapped up on Nov. 30. But fellow tax blogger/journalist Lubna Kably (regular readers know her from previous references here and here), has some post-filing thoughts that reveal just how similar the tax paying and tax collecting system is regardless of the country of origin.
OK, full disclosure: Lubna references me and my blog in this week’s edition of her regular column for India’s Economic Times. But that’s not why I’m recommending her article. You should read it because she makes the universal tax point that was one of my key motivations in creating
Lubna is much more gracious in her phrasing. If you haven’t clicked over there yet, here’s an excerpt:
"Be it is the US-based internal revenue service or the
Indian ministry of finance and our very own Central Board of Direct Taxes, the
issues remain the same. Where do we find additional revenue? How do we ensure
that we do not lose our slice of the tax pie? How do we bring more taxpayers
into the net? How do we ensure that there is no tax avoidance?The
answer is simple, don’t mess with taxes. Keep the tax laws and procedures
simple, friendly and understandable and there will be more of an incentive for
taxpayers to pay, file and smile."
I’m not really sure if we’ll ever achieve that smile component anywhere on the planet when it comes to taxes, at least on a regular basis. But Lubna’s points are well made and worth consideration by tax offices worldwide.
Lots of Lubna: In addition to her newspaper column, Lubna writes her own tax blog, Talking Tax, as well keeps up a personal online journal, The Writer’s Cyberslate.
