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Should you get ready for a lockdown tax ?

Should you get ready for a lockdown tax ?

Tax

The protracted war against the corona virus is affecting government coffers, leading to states wanting to raise taxes as much as possible in an effort to offset some deficits.

Sealed borders


With each state’s borders sealed, the risks of smuggling have been ruled out, leaving the states free to drastically raise taxes.

Back to back hikes


For example, one day after the 25% hike in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the price of liquor was increased by another 50%. The new hike is expected to add an additional revenue of Rs 9,000 crore per year.

Fuel

As oil prices continue to decline around the world, governments have decided to raise fuel prices at a lower cost; For example, petrol in Delhi rose by Rs 1.67 per liter and diesel by Rs 7.10 per liter.

Other options

There are other hikes available to governments – entertainment tax, municipal tax and registration fees on local panchayat chess, cars and property – that can be enforced at any time.

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World Biggest Air Purifier

An experimental tower over 100 metres (328 feet) high in northern China – dubbed the world’s biggest air purifier by its operators – has brought a noticeable improvement in air quality, according to the scientist leading the project, as authorities seek ways to tackle the nation’s chronic smog problem.
The tower has been built in Xian in Shaanxi province and is undergoing testing by researchers at the Institute of Earth Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The head of the research, Cao Junji, said improvements in air quality had been observed over an area of 10 square kilometres (3.86 square miles) in the city over the past few months and the tower has managed to produce more than 10 million cubic metres (353 million cubic feet) of clean air a day since its launch. Cao added that on severely polluted days the tower was able to reduce smog close to moderate levels.