In India, and also in other parts of the world, governments distribute freebies to the citizens who are poor and deprived. Government is nothing but a group of ambitious people who like to rule on others. No matter how someone boasts of democracy, the real motive behind joining politics is to be in power and stay in power. Power brings money and satisfaction of being safe and free from the influence of others. In order to lure voters, political parties promise to give lots of free things to the people if they come in power. Some promises are never kept but some promises are kept as our politicians ‘care for us’.

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Nothing comes free in this world

(Pixabay image)

In India, many people in social media complain about freebies from the various governments viz. central and state. They think poor people contribute nothing for the welfare of the state. They think that as the poor do not pay income tax, they do not contribute in revenue of the government at all. In lots of countries a certain group of people do not have to pay income tax as they are much behind the threshold limit of Income tax. Income tax means a tax levies on income of individuals and companies etc. So, whose income is below a certain number, that person is not bound to pay income tax.

But, in reality everyone is paying taxes. Even a new born child pays taxes. Taxes are not that are levied directly. But, there are lots of taxes which are levied indirectly. Taxes on purchase of goods is a hidden tax which we know as sales tax, goods and service tax etc. This tax burdens poor a lot as the indirect taxes most of the time are not progressive. In fact, they are regressive. They put more burden on poor as rate of taxes are uniform on particular commodities for all. For example rate of tax on insurance in India is 18 percent. So, rich as well as poor have to pay equal tax on insurance. That’s why everyone contributes in the tax revenue of the government. It means everyone is a taxpayer and hence government is liable to secure every life. It infer that as they pay taxes, they are fit to be declared as the tax paying citizens.

But, tax is not the matter as all. When the state came into existence, people have to surrender their rights to the government. Mother Nature had given equal rights to all on the natural resources. Everyone was free to occupy land for his requirement. Everyone was free to hunt animals and gather fruits of trees. Everyone was free to collect minerals for their use. But, when the state came into existence, it captured everything in the name of being public resources. Public resources means government owns every right on these resources. So, freebies are just a small compensation for the rights of the people. It can never compensate for the sacrifice which people have to make to make the state powerful. If the government is distributing free electricity, free healthcare facilities and free ration, it is nothing compared to the sacrifice of the people. State has captivated life of every people. If it is giving something in return, it’s doing it just to safeguard itself. That’s why freebies should not be seen as the gratitude of the state, it should be seen as the compensation for the sacrifice which people had to make in order to embolden the state. State is just saving itself from the rage of the people by distributing freebies. It is just protecting the system which make rich richer and poor poorer.

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