Everything seems to have gone up.

"Data from the Controller General of Accounts indicate that FY22 (Financial Year 2021-22) tax collections are on track to beat not just the pandemic-struck FY21's but also FY20's, a regular growth year," wrote TV Mohandas Pai & Nisha Holla. "Actual GTR (gross tax collection) collections in FY22 is Rs 13.64 lakh crore (Rs 13.64 trillion), compared to Rs 8.76 lakh crore in FY21 and Rs 10.52 lakh crore in FR20 in the same period." Increased tax collections will enable the government to spend more to stimulate the economy without having to borrow more, thus keeping fiscal deficit under control. "Advance tax collections in the third quarter of the fiscal year almost doubled from the year earlier period, underscoring hopes of a sustained economic recovery amid the threat from the Omicron Covid-19 variant," ET. Rs 941.07 billion was collected in the December quarter, of which personal income tax was Rs 396.62 billion, a rise of 115%. "The Centre earned nearly Rs 8.02 lakh crore (Rs 8.02 trillion) from taxes on petrol and diesel during the last three fiscal years, of which Rs 3.71 lakh crore was collected in FY21 alone, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Parliament," ET. FY21 denotes the period between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021. A complete lockdown for 21 days was declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24 March 2021, which brought all life to a standstill, wikipedia. As transport also stopped millions of migrant workers were forced to walk hundreds of miles back to their villages from cities where they were working, BBC. The lockdown was lifted in phases by 30 November. And yet, tax collection on fuel has soared. Deaths by suicide rose by 10% to 153,052 in 2020, the highest since 1967, while restricted travel reduced deaths due to road accidents by 11.1%, HT. "Death by suicide increased 30% nationwide among small business owners in 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, as compared to 2019, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)," TOI. According to data released by the NCRB "22,372 housewives took their own lives last year - that's an average of 61 suicides every day or one every 25 minutes," BBC. "Mental health experts say a major reason is rampant domestic violence". "According to the NCW (National Commission for Women) data, 25,886 complaints of crime against women have been received from April, 2020 till now which includes 5,865 complaints of domestic violence," HT. Surely severe under-report. Growth in small savings accounts, which offer higher interest than banks, has slowed in the last 3 years while there has been a spurt in demat (dematerialized) accounts, which are electronic accounts for investing in shares, wikipedia. "During April-October 2021, a little less than 1.9 crore (19 million) demat accounts were opened, translating into an average of 26.7 lakh (2.67 million) every month," HT. "The growing low-income investor fraternity has been investing in stocks directly and through mutual fund systematic investment funds," TIE. "Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das...cautioned depositors to be careful while chasing high returns as it comes with higher risks," ET. People are taking risks because of exorbitant taxes, high inflation and negative real interest rates. Wait till markets crash.