Some stories never change.

If we had thought that the BJP government will improve our lives with lower taxes and better services we were sadly mistaken. Indian politicians and civil servants cannot overcome their addiction to raising taxes for the most derisory excuses. Already the price of beer in Delhi has gone up by Rs 15 and the price of wine and spirits by over Rs 100. Now we hear that taxes on fuel and new vehicles will increase and there will be a surcharge on stamp duty on the sale of properties and on property tax. The excuse for this extortion is the government's desire to build 100 new smart cities. New taxes will immediately add to inflation so we end up paying more for fuel and property tax but also for essential goods which are transported by trucks. Building new cities will help the construction industry and draw more labor away from agriculture, raising rural labor costs and feeding into food inflation which is already running at 10%. Rural labor has fallen by 8.6% to 64% between 2004 and 2012 while labor in the construction industry has risen by 6% to 11%. The funny thing is that even with all this manic construction real estate prices have continued to rise so that any honest person without rich parents cannot afford to buy any property. Which means you have to pay rent which is a complete non-productive waste because it does not build up your asset base. Also landlords, fearing the stupid Rent Control Act, insist that you move every year, which is further waste of money. Although workers save 16% of their wages, which is second only to China, 78% face poverty on retirement because inflation, stoked by high taxes, erodes the value of their savings while the pressure on the Reserve Bank to keep interest rates low means that real interest on savings is not enough for survival. Construction firms build on borrowed money and banks are already groaning under unpaid infrastructure loans so all this construction could mean more bad news for banks. One defaulter, although dealing in diamonds, diverted Rs 65 billion abroad. Public sector banks will be recapitalised with taxpayer money which is where our taxes are going. However, not everyone is complaining about paying high taxes because the really wealthy know how not to pay any. Recently JM Arbitrage Advantage Fund has raised Rs 55 billion in quick time. In this scheme money is invested in equity. The fund distributes bonus shares immediately which brings down the NAV of the shares. You sell off the original shares at a loss which you can set off against other gains but keep the bonus. You can sell the bonus shares after 1 year with no capital gains tax. The middle class remains the suckers.