Tax Bangla bellies, increase revenue

THE RICH ARE USUALLY PRETTY WILY ABOUT HIDING THEIR WEALTH, BUT BELLIES ARE NOT SOMETHING SO EASY TO HIDE.

tax them for the very laudable action of being willing to pay money to get an education. In fact, the government should be subsidizing their fees not contributing to them.

What else might the government profitably tax to the extent that not only will it be able to raise some much-needed revenue, but that would also have desirable social outcomes, as well? Frankly speaking, the simplest thing to tax which would be sure to ensure that the impact would be progressive rather than regressive would be bellies. In Bangladesh, there is a direct correlation between the size of someone’s belly and the size of their wallet. We don’t have overweight poor people. If anyone is overweight it is a sure sign that he or she has been consuming more than his or her fair share of our scarce national resources and is therefore a prime candidate for a good taxing. Tax assessors should scour the countryside with tape measures and enforce a salutary tax on rotundity. Such a tax would be the closest way we could approximate an income tax without actually having to go to the trouble of keeping track of how much people earn.

In any case, the rich are usually pretty wily when it comes to hiding their wealth, both inside the country and outside. But a belly is not something that is so easy to hide, even if you enter into a conspiracy with your tailor. Nor can one’s belly be squirreled away outside the country.

The way forward is clear. If income tax is too easy to evade and too hard to enforce and if we are left with consumption taxes to balance our budget, then the simple way to ensure that such a tax regimen is not regressive is to replace the value added tax with a belly tax.

I expect the government to give this proposal due consideration.