Why Must We Have Different Income Tax Rules for Seniors.

That old people in the final phase of limited human life span need a different treatment is recognized by the Medical Science too which has a separate branch for them called geriatrics.  Financial advisers too advise old and retired people differently as their risk appetite and needs are different and the time span under consideration is shorter.  Thus it is surprising that the government doesn't discriminate between retired and working people when it comes to taxing their income.  Some minor concessions given to them earlier are being gradually wiped out.

The first point of contention is the rebate given on long term investments.  These are often used by government to show that the actual income on which you need not pay any taxes is far more than the exemption limit.  It is indeed prudent and advisable for a young working man to set aside a sizeable part of his / her income for a reasonable retirement corpus in old age.  But to ask an old person who may not have much more than 5 years of life span left is illogical.  For a senior citizen it is time to draw down his savings to supplement his reduced income and she can hardly afford to set aside a large chunk of her income just to get tax rebates.  Thus it will be reasonable to raise the exemption limit for seniors over that for working people by the amount of total deductions for investments and savings that are permitted.

Again, contrary to what is believed by working people, expenses tend to go up after retirement.  There are several reasons for it.  When young you are able to do most of daily chores yourself.  However an old person with much lower energy levels one has to depend on domestic help.  One may also need a driver or have to depend on expensive private transport.  Visits to doctors become more frequent and the expenses go up not only on consultation but also on medicines and supplements which more than make up for any reduction in your grocery and food bills.

While working most of us were unable to attend many social engagements like marriage, birth of a child and many of the numerous celebrations that keep taking place in the immediate and extended family.  Once retired the calls on you to participate and give your blessings grow frequent and louder.  Now, we all know that social commitments also call for a substantial financial commitment.  In fact, expenses on social and family events form a huge part of expenditure in your budget.

Thus it can not be gainsaid that seniors also require a much larger standard deduction compared to young working people.

My submission is that it will be reasonable to give seniors a standard deduction of 2 lakhs along with an exemption limit of 8 lakhs. Also these limits should be linked to inflation and get automatically revised.

The Caste System (Varna Vyavastha)

I come from a Brahmin family that hovered on the boundary between lower and lower middle classes when I was a kid. My early schooling was in my native village and I came to the city of Faizabad for the middle and high schooling. In the city, I used to feel perplexed by the social conversation between classmates from a proper middle class urban background and they sometimes did frown upon my ignorance in certain matters and also the dress sense or lack thereof in kids like me who happened to be studying in the same government schools as them.  As an aside I may add that private schools in those days were few and looked down upon.

While I did find our economic status a little embarassinng, I have vivid memories of certain people who worked as domestic help, cleaner and washerman who seemed to be doing worse than us. I still clearly remember one Manohar who used to do the dishes.  A male domestic help was called Maharaa and female ones were called Mahari.  Manohar Mahara was a giant of a man.  As a kid I found him scary.  Apart from a meager salary, Manohar also used to get our left over food.  He had a large tin box and used to keep the fresh food in it.  Before keeping the fresh food, he used to take out the stale food from it and consume it.  I seldom saw him eating the fresh food.

Though alcohol was a strict no-no, a bottle was kept in the house for the washerman who used to visit the house for washing our clothes and then taking them for ironing.  He will arrive in the morning, will be given a cup or more of the intoxicant and get down to work.

Then there was the lady who used to service the dry latrine that was used by our large joint family. My father and uncle were first generation immigrants to a city. This lady used to speak Urdu laden Hindi in an accent that gave us a complex.  Must have converted a genration ago.

My cousins and I now agree that our generation managed to creep up from lower class to middle class.  I do not know what happened to the descendants of the persons I have described above.  I am convinced that the difference between them and us was not so much of class as that of caste.  It may have firmly pinned them down where they were.  Yes, some of them did manage to escape this tyranny just as some in our clan remained stuck where we were a generation ago.  Yet, now at this old age, I can see the disadvantage that the ones from lower castes suffered from.

I do sincerely hope that Hindu society will soon realize that caste is an anachronism today and must be firmly and decisively done away with if Hindu society is to survive, progress and thrive.