Why Alyque Padamsee had suggested forming a union of taxpayers who refuse to pay tax

I found out that years ago, Indian anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania had decided not to pay taxes until some accountability came into the government. They promised lots of things at the time of elections but what happened to those promises? I seem to recall the American Goldwater Institute in the USA also trying to file a case, but not as a union. It is time we all stood up!

I spoke to a lawyer in Mumbai. I said, ‘We are consumers, you know. We pay taxes, like you go into a shop and you buy something. Let’s suppose you buy a packet of Surf and you take it home and, in the box, there are stones. You’ll take it back and you’ll explain to the shopkeeper, who in turn will report it to Hindustan Lever. Hindustan Lever, I assure you, because I have worked with them, will send you two free packets.’

All of us who are working and earning have to pay tax. And we pay our taxes for what? Clean air, right? Good roads, right? Water supply, electricity, public transport etc. In short for all public services. But let me ask you, what are we truly getting in return?

I say we are being swindled.

So why shouldn’t we have a taxpayer’s union? If every factory can have a union, which protects the rights of its workers and ensures they have fair pay for their labour, why can’t we have a taxpayer’s union to ensure access to the right facilities?

This idea of a taxpayer’s union is a serious thing. I don’t want it to be another Lokpal Bill – you know, going on forever. We should be able to demand that we receive what is promised to us. At the moment, the challenge is that we are paying lakhs through taxes for the product, but we are not getting satisfactory quality.

We are all taxpayers, believe you me, even the 80 per cent in the villages and small towns. Everyone is paying the Government of India tax, even if they are not earning directly. Remember, when they buy their bidis (local cigarettes), there’s a value added tax. There is excise. There are all these invisible taxes that every single Indian amongst the 1.4 billion Indians that we have now (I wouldn’t be surprised if by the time you finish this book it is 1.5!) are paying.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the taxpayers in this country said, “OK, you either give us the value for our money or...we go on strike!” And certainly, some income taxpayers could do that very easily. And if the income taxpayers stop, this country would come to a standstill.

Do you know how many people pay income tax in this country? It is just above 1 per cent1! Those 1 per cent of people are the strongest force to demand a good product from the government. I genuinely believe that if you don’t know how to govern, then GET OUT!

We do not need to make it a circus with a ‘we will do this, and we will do that, and we will come out on the streets and we will demonstrate’. If we just stop paying our taxes, how will the government pay salaries then? That’s what I’m advocating: a taxpayers’ union.

In a corporate company, the shareholders have the right to question the directors who are making decisions for the company. In this situation, we the taxpayers would therefore have the right to question the government on how and where it is spending money.

I know it may sound ridiculous, but I have checked this out with lawyers. If there is a group of like-minded people who are part of the taxpaying population of this country, they can come together and form a union, the lawyers have said. And by law, a union is allowed to go on strike. We will strike by not paying tax.

What if we assembled a million people with a fee of one rupee each? What if we got senior lawyers on board?

The main aim is not to show the government up, but to make the government accountable and actually get the services that have been promised to us, the people. The taxpayers’ union would be totally legal, and we’d be covered by the union laws, so if the taxpayers go to the union and strike, we can bring the government to a standstill.

Come on! With today’s IT infrastructure, isn’t there a way of bringing in more transparency and accountability as well as democracy in decision-making? If we can bring in Aadhaar, surely we can build better systems that will ensure we are getting our money’s worth as citizens. If we band together, we can force through changes like this.

Excerpted with permission from Let Me Hijack Your Mind: Restart Your Life With Freedom, Alyque Padamsee with Vandana Saxena Poria, Penguin Viking.