Indians Pay $72 Billion As 'Bribe Taxes' Each Year

The Art of Collecting Bribe Tax

Bribe tax collections are done with the connivance and/or encouragement of the top political leaders, who get a large share. It is observed that a substantial portion of the un-organized credit market is serviced by bribe tax amounts and the police is said to be emerging as a major credit provider/collector in the un-organized trade and retail markets.

The origin of corruption is the illegal money hidden abroad and recycled as foreign direct investment or portfolio flows into the country. The shadows of the 2G scam and the recent Coalgate scam are not auspicious for our republic, since they give an impression that bribery, thievery and thuggery are all acceptable forms of governance as long as you are well supported by the organs of coercion like the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to shut the mouths of your opponents.

However, this bribe taxation is not discussed in open forums. All, especially media, are after various scams that involve known-figures, since what they want is a topic of discussion. In the Post-Anna/Post-Baba Ramdev period, everyone tend to concentrate on big figures and huge statistics and the burden that is levied on the common man is neglected.

Smaller businessmen suffer highly. For instance, if a retail vegetable vendor earning Rs 400-500 a day and ends up paying Rs 40-50 as bribe to the police and other agencies, nearly 10 percent of his gross income is taken away from him.

Moreover, the officials have invented innovative mechanisms to do the taxation; they employee regular “bribe collectors” thus even if they are caught, the actual bribe collectors can easily wash their hands. The money is collected employing various methods—inaction, speed, inducement, lure, threat or intimidation by any government employee or his unofficially appointed agent. It is to be noted that without political patronage collecting these “personal account” taxes are not possible.

Recently, a report revealed that in government hospitals in Bangalore, a newborn child is shown to the mother only on payment of a fixed amount of money to hospital employees. The “fee” is Rs 300 for a boy baby and Rs 200 for a girl—showing an obnoxious gender bias, even in corruption.