How To Minimise The Tax You Pay

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes of the US Supreme Court made a famous remark on taxes a few years ago. “Taxes are what we pay for a civilised society. I like to pay taxes because with them, I buy civilisation”. In the context of India, can tax-paying citizens really expect to buy civilisation? Perhaps not. Every year, the Government of India collects crores of rupees in taxes from its citizens. Yet for decades, it has not been able to provide basic amenities such as potable water, security, and tolerably good education and healthcare to its people. Instead the opposite is true.  The country’s citizens have been paying for these services on their own and at the same  paying income tax to the government. In such a scenario, one can legitimately pose a question: why should anyone want to pay income tax? There is general reluctance among people to pay income tax...