Is the government justified for the hike in the wake of inflation? Bangalore pays the highest fuel prices but is the tax used appropriately, Are Bangaloreans getting their due for the high petrol price they pay.
Read an opinion straight from a common Bangalorean’s viewpoint..
PETROL PRICES – TAXES – VALUE
My editor wonders if the govern… I beg your pardon, Government, is justified in their decision to raise petrol prices.
Of course they are. Justifications are a rupee a dozen. Any self respecting bureaucrat or official has a good stock of them tucked away in the briefcase his PA is carrying.
Whether the price hike is rational is another issue all together. And, you know what? I’m thinking that it just might be.
I mean, although we think of gasoline as a necessity of life, it isn’t. It is a luxury. And like all luxuries, a price has to be paid. One way or the other. Look what happened in the US as a result of untaxed inexpensive gasoline. The cost of undoing the depredations of not having stricter environmental controls, (paid for with what rationally should have been higher taxed gasoline), has far exceeded what early implementation would have cost. And that is one of the hallmarks of a luxury. The bill, when it comes due, is always higher than… well, you know.
Sir Editor was also wondering if the highest-in-the-nation taxes of Karnataka are being used appropriately, his word of choice.
Umm, that depends on what you think is the appropriateness of public monies being used for private needs. Actually, that should be – private wants. Personally? I’d say, no. I’d say that adding to the wealth of political dynasties is not an appropriate use of the taxes on petrol.
Apologists for the Official Spenders and Allocators of Petrol Taxes will no doubt point to the massive and messy road works being undertaken on behalf of the People of B’luru and suggest that I am talking out of my hat. For all I know every penny of the taxes has been spent on those infrastructure projects, the ones designed to get the People from one end of B’luru to the other and all points north, south, east, and west.
To them, I say, look around you.
Does it look as if the money that was spent was spent wisely? Or appropriately? Or honorably? Do they look as if they have built by anyone who has even a nodding acquaintance with the math of urban and sub-urban traffic needs?
I mean, let’s get real. A Magic Box that impedes the flow of traffic can hardly be worth the money paid to the contractor who qualified for the contract by marrying the minister-in-charge’s mustachioed sister.
Any way, that’s what I think.
Disclaimer-
The above opinion is solely a personal opinion and is in no way intended to damage anyone’s reputation, or bears any hidden motives .
