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Journalism of Courage
`Avoid! Avoid!’ proclaimed the wall-plaque behind his executive chair. "Avoid what?" I asked him. "Taxes?" "Nothing to do with taxes," said Sri Badafi, his cheeks puffed with fluidised paan. "We don’t deal with tax avoidance at all."
"We are a fast-growing consultancy group," he said with great deliberation, "to advise managers, public sector, private sector, on how to avoid mind you, avoid, not evade responsibilities and decisions. All strictly according to law, rules of business, financial rules, orders, procedural instructions everything! We advise them for a modest fee." "Why bother?" I snorted. "They’re avoiding enough already, thank you."
"Not systematically or expertly, with careful pre-planning, the way the rich and the corporates do with taxes, are almost encouraged to do with taxes. You know, all that high talk of `his duty to shareholders’ and `perfectly entitled to exercise his ingenuity… to legally and lawfully not pay tax’." "They have every legal right!" I said hotly. "Even to use the letter of the law to frustrate the spirit of the law."
"Very good," said Badafi. "So I can advise my clients with a clear conscience that they have every right to avoid or delay decisions if they can just find a foothold in the letter of the law. Right? Bilkul right! Yes, many are doing it already, but so amateurishly! So they get into trouble. And the whole point of the exercise is to avoid trouble, all kinds of trouble, have more time for family, hobbies, religion. Plan for global optimisation of your lifetime, the only one you have. The ultimate constraint!"
I bristled, "Religion? You talk of religion and punch holes in the fabric of our society and our dharma. If managers are encouraged to dodge decisions…""And if so many hugely profitable companies take pride in paying little or no corporate tax, then why shouldn’t my client take pride in avoiding responsibility and decisions by juggling rules and loopholes? And why shouldn’t the workers systematically avoid work?"
"Workers too!" I said in alarm. "You seem to be determined to undermine every pillar."
"Why should the worker be held to a higher moral standard than his superiors?"
"The workman must be worthy of his hire," I said. "That is his dharma.""Even if those above are cynical and selfish? What about the workman’s duty to his family? And tell me: what is a work to rule? Every government and bank officer is required to follow rules strictly or risk getting hauled up for that double sin taking a decision, and in indecent haste." Yet, when bank assistants announce work to rule, all rules and procedures to be strictly followed, what does the government understand? "That it’s a strike, a wilful and devious refusal to work, which should not be tolerated. But it’s admirable when businessmen pay taxes to rule, right?"
"Well, soon our Workmen’s Division will teach labour how to avoid work systematically, strictly according to the law. Dekhiye, I am Godfearing man and I repeat: No evade-shivade! Bilkul nahin! But avoidance is okay a perfectly legal service. If I don’t provide this, others will. And we’ll provide high-level intellectual justification too I want our customers to face tax-dodgers on a level playing field.
"Let me tell you my story. I’m a lawyer. Spent 18 years in the sales tax department of a state government, drafting laws, rules, clarifications, instructions. I was honest. I earned a pittance.
"One day my guru told me cryptically: `Badafi, I hear you are selling good vadas for a pittance, while your colleagues sell the holes in the vadas for a fat fee!’ I opened my eyes wide. He added, with a smile: `To them, a tax net is just a lot of holes tied together with string.’ So now my motto is avoideva jayate. But mind you, no evade!"
