Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
How to prepare your kids for the taxes!
Afool and his money are soon parted, the rest of us await the income tax time. - Not me though...
It’s the time of the year when we are reminded that IT does not only mean Information Technology, but it is also an acronym for the dreaded Income Tax. Benjamin Franklin said there were only two things certain in life: death and taxes. But like most other sorrows of life, this one too can be diluted by adding a pinch of flavour called humour.
Even though my Economics is weak just like the other six subjects, yet let’s get started…firstly, people who complain about paying their income tax can be divided into two categories: men and women. I remember once when I complained about paying IT to an acquaintance, he said you are a responsible citizen of the country and you must smile and pay all the taxes. Afterwards, I swear I tried so hard to follow his advice, but every time the tax guys told me “Sir, you need to dish out the cash, only smiling won’t do!”
Some parents in Russia take away one-third of their children’s pocket money just to prepare them for the eventuality of income Tax when they grow up. How smart, you may try it too, in fact you can even innovate…let’s see…try something like giving a bar of chocolate to your kid, snatching it right back just when he is about to bite into it.
Thereafter, loudly announcing the words “Sales Tax”, munch off an extra large chunk from the bar before handing it back to the by now flabbergasted kid. By the time your kid grows up and starts earning, he will not only understand the taxes but also he will smile and pay them like a good samaritan, just the way my friend wanted me to.
Also, over the years the income tax forms have been simplified, beyond all understanding… sometimes I wonder that it takes us more brains and effort to make out the income-tax form than it does to make the income.
I feel it should be designed for the ease and comfort of all just the way most other works of fiction are...