GODSEND FOR THE TAX MAN ?

sandman · Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 9:19 pm Post subject: GODSEND FOR THE TAX MAN ?

ARTICLE FROM THE ISLAND BY R.A.RATWATTE :

A godsend for the taxman?The on-going saga of the Sakvithi scandal has resulted in many people registering complaints with the police with regard to large sums of money that they have lost. One presumes that these entries are substantiated by authentic identity documents and current addresses. Now for people to "invest" sums of this magnitude they should have an income well in excess of this. Therefore, isn’t this an opportunity for the tax man to verify if these people are registered taxpayers?

Now this may seem to be a proverbial case of the "gahen vatuna minihata gona anna" (‘a man being gored by a bull after a fall from a tree’) but in this case I believe that the tree has been scaled to "steal" forbidden fruit and as such maybe these wealthy investors should be investigated. Simply "murdering" the law abiding citizens of this country who pay taxes will only lead to the decimation of the economy, not something that a mere layman needs to explain to the pundits who are in charge.

This leads, in my mind, to the on-going debate as to whether mere literacy equates to education. We boast that over 90% of our population is literate. Does it really mean anything? Being literate allows one to understand what is being said in the TV advertisements and read those in the print media, but does it empower a person to decipher their true meaning? One could argue that it is only common sense that is needed to work out that any interest rate that is so much higher than the base rate can only be offered by illegal means but then when did common sense prevail when greed and desperation had priority?

The "literate" masses of this country have shown us time and again how gullible and even plain foolish they are. From the time when they expected rice imports from the moon to the on-going atrocities that are being endured in the name of a famous victory…the people are losing their basic rights to irresponsible propaganda that is being shoved down their throats in the guise of appealing to their pseudo-intellectuality. It is time we had real EDUCATION in this country rather than creating people with a "clerk mentality", which is all the colonials desired. Literacy should lead to thinking and to expressing opinions based on your learning, not simply following a "herd mentality".

Over the last few days there has been a spate of civilian deaths at the hands of those manning check- points or carrying out foot patrols or even blatantly settling old scores and disputes with their official weapons. This is probably due to the positive reports flowing in from the north that is giving all uniform wearers all over the country a feeling of great superiority. Let this be a warning to the commanders…this is the time for REAL discipline and it is through humility in victory, that the quality of your troops and officers will be judged.

R. A. Ratwatte
Kandy

I AM BRAINLESS, SO PLEASE EXCUSE ME !!!!!!