Why Do We Need To Pay Income Tax

By Author: Suzane Morgan
Total Articles: 4
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Not only in India, but with most countries, the issue of income tax has gone to such levels of corruption that it would have been better to have it as a Constitutional Duty. But if Right to Employment is a right that every citizen enjoys, then paying income tax should also be a fundamental duty of every citizen. But unfortunately it is not so.

In India, the Income tax rules are applicable to all types of incomes that a person may acquire. However a majority of this income tax comes either through salaried professionals or through house or land owners who have rented or sublet their property for rent. The sad case is that a lot of people hide their employment so that they do not have to pay income tax. And with the huge population and massive topographical stretch of the country, it is impossible to locate every income generating individual. And the number of such people is not less. If someone is giving tuitions at home or if a student works as a part timer in some shop – such are all cases of hidden income that do ...
... not have to bother about paying taxes. A new segment of job that has acquired much furore in recent times is home based data entry jobs. Now if a person devotes a few hours every day to such a job and manages an income out of it, is it really possible to track down all such people? Unfortunately, the answer is NO.

A lot of people fail to understand that the government does not keep the money for its own personal benefit. The money collected through income tax is used for a variety of services. A major chunk of it goes into the payment of national debts and in the maintenance of the army. Of the rest, the amount is used for the various activities for the welfare of the citizens – maintenance of roads and other infrastructure, food and drug safety, environmental protection and conservation and a part of it is saved as the national revenue for contingency purposes.

Thus, the money is spent for our welfare. We need to realise that the state can only spend whatever resources it has at hand. And thus failure to pay Income tax is actually going to affect us in the long run.