Whatever happens, we get screwed.

"India wants to get on the electric vehicle  bandwagon, and is introducing China-style policies to pursue its green ambitions. But there's a wrinkle: its age-old, protectionist instincts, which have kept out international auto companies for decades," wrote Anjani Trivedi. "Tesla Inc is likely to set up a factory in India if successful with imported vehicles, Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Twitter, after the company wrote to Indian ministries seeking big reductions in import duties on electric vehicles, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter," Business Today (BT). "Other luxury automakers in India have also lobbied the government in the past to lower taxes on imported cars but have had little success due to opposition from rivals with domestic operations." The government responded. "And it is not what Tesla would have hoped. The government has ruled out any reduction in import duties as of now in what could be a blow for the US-based electric vehicle manufacturer," Hindustan Times (HT). "Tesla's sales in China started to comprise a big portion of revenue as early as 2017, before it began production there. While that was partly thanks to relatively low import tax rates of 25% at the time, it also reflected Beijing's desire to create a market for EVs. The government's stance helped electric cars get traction, boosting the entire supply chain and tipping off a self-fulfilling cycle of hype," wrote Trivedi. "Now Tesla is exporting cars from its Shanghai factory to Europe." India is going the other way. "Our businesses collectively deal with 1,536 Acts, 69,233 compliances and 6,618 filings," wrote Prof VA Nageswaran and Sanjay Anandaram. The private securities services industry "employs 9 million people, the second most after agriculture, with a compound annual growth rate of 20%" and is regulated by the Private Security Agencies Regulation Act (PSARA) 2005 which mandates that anyone wanting to start such an agency will have to furnish, "Two copies of a form to be filled and signed in five places by each company director, along with photograph, an affidavit with two signatures, two thumb impressions, self-attested copies of the company director's PAN (permanent account number for paying income tax) and Aadhaar cards, and passport copies (for address and ID proof), a letter to the police station, and letters from two fellow citizens in testimony to the director's good conduct." "Indirect taxes (excise, customs and goods and services tax) are like direct taxes on production," wrote Nageswaran. "Indirect taxes keep the cost of production up, thus reducing the growth of incomes accruing to factors of production. In the process, tax collection through direct taxes also suffers." "GST (goods and services tax) will fix the imbalance in India's trade system. GST will end tax terrorism and Inspector Raj. I will call GST Good and Simple Tax," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Economic Times (ET). Palanivel Thyaga Rajan and Praveen Chakravarty disagreed and blamed the Union government. "First, it has re-constructed the composition of taxation away from the fair and progressive channel of direct taxation towards inherently regressive and unfair channel of indirect taxes. To make matters worse, the Union has shifted a large proportion of taxation (roughly 18 percent of its overall revenues) to cesses, a special form of taxes that remain outside the GST pool and hence do not have to be shared with the states." Extortion can backfire. The government's insistence on telecom companies paying their AGR dues in full (moneycontrol), resulted in "Kumar Managalam Birla stepped down as chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd, while also reportedly offering the groups stake in the firm to the government for free," wrote Mobis Philipose which means the government may have to write off Rs 1.8 trillion of debt owed by the company. "Already, telecom services have become increasingly unaffordable for the country's poor." Politicians try toe screw companies and each other. We get screwed by everyone..