Express your voice

• I share Ashok Malik’s concern at the half-hearted measures of the Finance Minister to control black money (‘Withdrawal Symptoms’, March 6). In fact P Chidambaram’s aim seems more to increase government revenue than to control the menace of black money, as he is doing nothing to stop its generation in the first place. As the writer has rightly pointed out, one of the largest generators of black money in the economy is the transaction relating to real estate. The high rates of stamp duties promote tax evasion through under invoicing of the value of the property and the buyers are forced to pay larger part of the payment in cash. Has the Finance Minister ever wondered why there is a so-called property dealer or real-estate agent in every nook and corner and each one seems to be doing rather well compared to the number of clients he has?
—Manoj Bhatt

• Why create such a furore over the fringe benefit tax (‘The lunatic fringe’, March 6)? Companies have been passing on benefits to their employees in lieu of cash to escape taxation for years. Paid holidays, hefty monetary incentives are very much a part and parcel of any compensation package which usually escape the tax net. One cannot escape taxation of these benefits just because politicians are not taxed.
—Siddhartha Raj Guha

• The fringe benefit tax isn’t the only silly thing in the Budget. There are two other serious anomalies: the ‘‘tax relaxation’’ for women and senior citizens. After the Budget, women instead of a rebate of Rs 5,000 will get a rebate of Rs 2,500, i.e. 10 per cent of Rs 25,000. Senior citizens, instead of a rebate of Rs 20,000, will get a rebate of just Rs 5,000, i.e. 10 per cent of Rs 50,000. Either the Finance Minister thinks he can fool the general public or has acted foolishly himself.
—Pranav Sachdeva

• I agree with Tavleen Singh that our politicians enjoy the maximum fringe benefits which require to be curtailed and taxed. A businessman does some productive work for the nation, but what have our politicians achieved?
— Dinesh Kumar