Common Sense (lack of) and Govt Agencies. Review on SEBI

<H>Common Sense (lack of) and Govt Agencies</H>

Indian Finance Ministry thru SEBI has made it mandatory for lakhs of investors and tax payers to do MAPIN registration & obtain TIN (Tax Information Network number) before March 31, 2005.

This costs Rs 300 & indeed as with any Govt (and quasi Govt) dealings, to be paid by 'demand-draft' only!

The obsession with demand draft in such Govt departments, I am sure ensures that SEBI gets paid, instead of personal checks and other instrument bouncing post-facto. But having decentralised the TIN card registration to Agencies that have offices in every Major metro & even towns, is it too much to ask SEBI to allow these agencies themselves to collect cash as a mode of payment, particularly for such a small amount of application fee.

Agencies can be asked to remit weekly, for the amount due for'cash' registrations from them. That would have saved a visit to the bank & waiting time, for every one of the lakhs of customers, besides saving the customers (individuals in particular) the additional bank (draft commission) charges that ranges from Rs 12 to Rs 55!!

To expect the now-common 'innovations' like credit card/debit card to be accepted, is asking for a miracle from the 'afterall' Government agency!!

Dealing with any Govt agency and in particular the diktats of the likes of Finance ministry & its subsidiaries like Income Tax department, SEBI is at best a necessary evil & certainly not a pleasant experience in 99 out of 100 instances.

However, there is a lot of hoopla & publicity noise being made, these days, about such Govt agencies being 'Customer Friendly'. Instead of wasting our tax money on Govt adverts trumpeting such 'customer friendly' initiatives undertaken, these departments should promote the discovery & use of one simple ingredient called 'common sense' starting from the departmental secretary level & downward!!

Maybe I am missing the point that some civil servant somewhere down the line thought it a good idea for the Govt to earn 11.5% service tax on the bank's commission, which is why the payment mode is 'draft only'.

Epilogue: This latest obsession for service tax is omni present in the FM (both P Chidambaram & fin Min) & I am prepared, carrying 30 paise in my pocket; who knows anyday there may be a service tax introduced for use of the few Public toilets that the Govt has built since Independence, to manage sanitation in our country, that costs only 25paise today, without VAT (GST/Service Tax)! Thanks to the kindness of FM, come April 1, 2005 I can go back to carrying 25 paise, even if Service tax is introduced in the meantime, as I can walk across, to the restaurant on the other side of the road & claim (refund) credit back for the 'input' GST/VAT/service tax I had paid!

Talking of refund and reforms, did you know that Income Tax Dept is very prompt in its refund as per the mis-informed top Revenue secy - refer their site? They are smart; they set the clock after they have had their sweet years to review the damn IT return filed, with excess tax paid by the helpless 'customer' & the duration between the day they decide to refund and the day it reaches you is what is publicised as prompt refund service - max duration of 1month - by the fat inefficient bureaucrats that we pay for, thru our nose, to be of disservice if not a harassment to us!! Never mind they sleep over the tax return for years before they decide to open, meanwhile the 'resource' of people year after year, that too with special 'sarkari babu' tax concessions for themselves as against Prinvate sector employees!

While Corporates and Traders have got goodies thru Long-term cap gain exemption, Div tax exemption & smaller STT, come Budget 2005, the average middle class is the one to pay, some more again for expensive & yet useless bureaucrats & non performing Govt and politicians to live on them! We need a forum to take up the cause of Individual's income tax burden in India ahead of Budget 2005which may be packaged as moderate income tax rate with few concessions here and there and yet almost ALL items you consume today, shall bear 20% Service tax as service tax net is due to expand to cover anything conceivable & the Serivice Tax (GST/VAT) rate is due to increase to 20%. 12% of this goes to Central politicians, central bureaucrats to party & 8% goes to the State lot for them to squander in the name of free-power, loss making road contracts to their friends and relatives etc ... much of what is said a few months ago in the following article is even more relevant today!!!....read on>>

https://mouthshut.com/review/Ministry_Of_Finance-58330-1.html