191–200 of 336 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The new bills have yet to hit the streets, and the old bills don't count as long term stores of value. So, for a little while India is arguably 'without' Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes. Basically, they are no longer bills but checks with expiration dates.
The new bills will start circulating in 2 days.
Doh! I was in India earlier this year and forgot to change currencies on the way out. Any ideas for a US national holding 9 of the Rs500 notes?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, I've done some (admittedly shallow) research on the prevalence and effect of black money, and the impression I got was that it's like "money laundering" in America; actually not that significant or deleterious, but a convenient political talking point. > The government will introduce new 500 and 2000 Rs notes. Arbitrarily downgrading existing notes makes the currency both less convenient and less liquid (and, I…
>actually not that significant or deleterious, but a convenient political talking point. This is not true. This is a problem that significantly impacts the economy and visibly changes the equation for the middle class. Real estate, cars, and other things you'd consider somewhat essential to an average household are artificially priced because of the purchasing power of people with "Black money". It is more than a pol…
I am originally from India, living in NYC for last 10 years. Black money is a major problem in India, it's directly fueling This is an ingenious way to handle the problem at its root. I don't know how Government is going to handle this transition in a country as big and diverse as India. Personally, I prefer the rip-off-the-band-aid approach. The only thing I disagree with is the ATM daily/weekly withdrawal limit (10…
> I think this withdrawal limit is too low and would inconvenience lot of folks Yup. If someone needs to pay for medical emergencies, they will suddenly have to ask for help from lot of people.
While this sounds great on face value, I doubt this'll solve the root of the problem. Why did we have so much black money in India? Coz people didn't want to pay taxes. Why didn't people want to pay taxes? Because they got nothing in return. Governments (esp Indian) have been historically self serving and power hungry. Tax money is usually either lost by PSUs loaning to the Mallyas of the world or other corrupt bulls…
We've had the green and white revolutions, the IITs and other edu programs, large medical programs, ISRO (and the sensing tech that comes with it).
This is from a once impoverished country which later had to deal with the fallout of weaker institutions, brain drain and corruption/dacoity/booth capturing and a whole host of problems that include terrorism and war.
Post 1991, once the economy improved there's been significant improvement in out fortunes/tax kitty allowing for many other improvements (not to mention economic freedom).
This argument comes up very often, even in other countries and its spurious on the facts (Indian facts above), and on the logic - taxation is not a choice.
Don't forget it's a chicken and egg issue as well - without funding you don't get services, which makes you blame the govt and not want to give them more funding.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Call me up when our government stops doing idiotic things like sending billions in cash to Iran. Then I'll consider being concerned about income taxes.
which government? US? that was Iranian money frozen 39 years ago plus interest. India? that was owed oil money due to sanctions. I don't understand how you are capitalist until the other side is Iran.
Let's momentarily set aside the issue of whether the US owed Iran 1.7B dollars. There are arguments on both sides but I want to point something out:
The cash payment was made at the same time as the release of four Americans by Iran's regime. The Obama administration has admitted that the cash was used as leverage in negotiating their release.
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...
This is the boldest and probably most brilliant move by any Indian politician since liberalization of economy in 1990s. Having said that, another way of understanding this is that as of today both old 500 Rs and 1000 Rs notes have been "probabilistically devalued". For anyone in middle class and below the value essentially remains the same (other than a small devaluation due to effort required to get them exchanged),…
This is not the first time this has happened. It happened in March 2014.
https://rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=...
This is the boldest and probably most brilliant move by any Indian politician since liberalization of economy in 1990s. Having said that, another way of understanding this is that as of today both old 500 Rs and 1000 Rs notes have been "probabilistically devalued". For anyone in middle class and below the value essentially remains the same (other than a small devaluation due to effort required to get them exchanged),…
Isn't this a trick that will only work once? Wont the people who are taking advantage of black money start using a different store of value that isn't controlled by the Indian government like foreign currency or high value commodities?
EDIT: fixed typo "tomorrows"
While this sounds great on face value, I doubt this'll solve the root of the problem. Why did we have so much black money in India? Coz people didn't want to pay taxes. Why didn't people want to pay taxes? Because they got nothing in return. Governments (esp Indian) have been historically self serving and power hungry. Tax money is usually either lost by PSUs loaning to the Mallyas of the world or other corrupt bulls…
I think the one of the big reasons (if not the only one) of doing this is to be able to introduce notes of higher denominations as an anti-corruption measure without having to answer the critics about the sorry state of the economy.
Nonetheless, a good one time move against the small time tax evader. This is not going to work long term obviously.
What the government needs to do is to give incentives to tax payers and considerably lower the taxes. Only then people will start paying them. I know it is a bit of a chicken and egg problem but it's the government that has to initiate the process.
I think Indians are among one of the highest taxed citizens in the world if you count direct+indirect taxes vs social welfare offered by the state.