My paper on NRPT published recently generated such a massive response from readers that my mailbox nearly exceeded storage capacity! This is ample proof that people are taking NRPT seriously. Every email I opened unfolded yet another complicated scenario, further exposing the irrationality and illogicality of this unpopular tax, not to mention the idiosyncrasies of those behind this compulsory contribution to the state.

People feel they are being forced to pay, through their nose, a tax hailed as simple, but leaving complicated thoughts in their minds. After having been through successive price hikes, and still trying to recover from multiple shocks such as milk and iron bar shortage, householders have had to rush to corner shops to get hold of a measuring tape (before stocks run out!) to self-assess their property. At this time of the year where Christians were looking forward to a solemn Pere Laval pilgrimage, where Muslims and Tamils are busy preparing for their fast, where parents of CPE students are as much stressed as their kids, where consumers are battling for a pound of milk, where mortgagors are running around in search of iron bars to construct their houses, trying to understand a complex tax system is the last thing people want to do. The best thing the government could have done in such circumstances was to extend the tax return deadline to the 31 st of October, giving taxpayers sufficient breathing space to come to terms with the tax changes.

The Hon Finance Minister is adamant that only seven percent of the population will pay taxes. The question that arises is why bother the whole population with filing a return if 93% are not going to pay! If the amount of resources, time, energy and money being spent on explaining the taxes were instead spent on a basic IT training, we could have raised the level of IT literacy in the country. Hon Sithanen is praising the economy, boasting of early harvests, quoting figures and worldwide rankings, etc and painting a rosy picture of the economy. By the time he realises what is really happening on the ground, it would be too late. What is more surprising is the fact that Dr Navin Ramgoolam and all other responsible cabinet members are letting themselves beig swallowed in this game! The alarm bells have been raised since long, and day by day, crisis is looming.

Let me now illustrate how the NRPT is illogical.

1. Suppose Mr X earns a total income of Rs 400,000 and his wife does not work. Mr X is liable for NRPT. His neighbour Mr Y earns only Rs 350,000 and his wife also works, earning Rs 300,000 a year. He is not liable to NRPT despite having a total household income of Rs 650,000!

2. Mr A has a ground floor house of 100 sq metres in Roche -Bois. His NRPT amounts to Rs 1,000. Mr B has a storeyed house in Sodnac, with 100 sq metres on ground floor and 100 sq metres on first floor. Mr B also pays Rs 1,000 as NRPT despite having a house twice the size and located in a posh area.

3. Mr P lives in Laventure, in a small unbarred lane, in a decrepit house, which has a land surface area of 350 sq metres, but its walls are not rendered, not painted, and the roof is partly of corrugated iron sheets. Because he earns more than Rs 385,000, given a second part-- time job he does to raise additional revenue to pay for his three children?s tuition fees, he is liable for NRPT to the tune of Rs 3,500. Mr Q lives in a posh area of Trou-aux- Biches, in a splendid palace, on three levels, surface area exceeding 450 sq metres, equipped with swimming pool, jaccuzi, central alarm system, and 24 hr security watchman, etc. His NRPT is just Rs 1,500 because his ground floor area is only 150 sq metres!

And now the interest dilemma! From feedback received from readers, it is clear that many people have gone hysterical when they realized that tax on interest is payable even if their savings amount to less than Rs 2 million! Accounts of minors are being taxed, and the most ridiculous thing is that this must be the first country in the world where children are being asked to file a tax return!

The estimated revenue from NRPT will barely exceed Rs 60 m. Such a paltry sum does not warrant this turbulence in people?s lives. The social and political cost of such a measure will far outweigh the monetary benefits and it is difficult to understand how political pundits have given their green light to a system that is eroding the ruling party?s electoral base and indirectly benefiting its opponents! The NRPT will go down in our history as the most contested tax measure ever implemented.

[email protected]