Ya'll Nibbiars The % of direct tax payers in India is an abysmal single digit number. The middle class is bearing the burden of the poor while the poor don't feel obligated. And the "poor" are poor only on paper. The middle class ends up paying because TDS gets deducted compulsorily. Starting IT salaries in mass recruiting companies are ~3.5L, roughly 30k/pm. This is "middle class" and ends up paying tax. And a maid who charges 1.5k/pm and works in 10-15 households earns all her money in cash so she is "poor". The "poor" maid's children get free subsidized education, and roam around with Pulsars and iPhones while the middle class person is stuck in education loans and home loans. The "poor" maid squats on public land and demands regularization of slums and gets a free home in slum-rehabilitation scheme. The middle class person is charged on a "per square feet" basis. Never heard them complain about this injustice which is in their favor. If they are going to be taxed more, let them pay more, or they can choose not to buy things that are not necessary.
The "poor" farmers get 100% tax waiver, on top of that they get farming subsidy, on top of that, if there is bad yield, they get loan bailouts, and these assholes, when the urban middle class requests for a 2 rupee reduction in milk rates, do this Spilling Milk on the Road. We are a socialist country in letter and spirit. Criticizing the poor is not fashionable. Poor people are chors. They have the money, they just know how to evade taxes to remain "poor". Modi has rightly taunted after Jan Dhan success "Bharat ke gareebon ki ameeri toh dekho humne toh 0 balance account khulwaya tha, par desh ke gareebon ne thousand crores deposit kar diye". Middle class was a minority until now. India is going to pull 400 million people into the new middle class. All of them are going to say the same thing. Being "poor" will no longer be fashionable. It just means the person is not producing any value for society.