The colour of money
REMEMBER the super hit song by ABBA: "Money, Money, Money," or the movie, "The Colour of Money" (1986) starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise? Well, there is no commonality between the two, except for the word Money. That's enough, isn't it? It rings so sweet in our ear…the sound "Money," whether it comes in metal or paper.
Yes, let us talk about money today. It is the most discussed and desired topic in history. It has created and destroyed many governments across the world. And it continues to do so. Volumes have been written on this topic and volumes will be written in the future. But nothing would change people's attitude towards money.
It is commonly said that money and happiness walk hand in hand. You can veritably buy happiness if you have sacks of money. So, one guy sarcastically said: "Money is not the most important thing in the world. Love is. Fortunately, I love money." How naughty, indeed. But do we all believe in this maxim? That money can fetch happiness? At least Benjamin Franklin did not. He said: " Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one." Scary, isn't it?
In Bangladesh, at the moment, everyone is talking money. The finance minister of the current government has started it all. He had reasons to do so. Because money is sprouting here in various colours -- black, white, blue, red, green, yellow -- coming from various sources, smuggling, arms dealing, heroin peddling, hired killing, extortion, black marketing, taking bribe, selling villas with false documents, hoarding of essential food items and so on.
Well, as long as money comes, we are happy. We live like kings, sipping whiskey, surrounded by skinny men and women in groin clothes. When it stops coming, we get upset. Very upset. We go to the people in power, or people wearing different kinds of uniforms, or to big bosses in the secretariat, or to the dons in Dhaka, Pakistan and Dubai. Money we must have. An awful lot of money. A hell of a lot of money. For money we re ready to sell our country. For money we are ready to sell our souls.
But, brother, why do you need so much money? I mean, aren't there any other goals worth pursuing? Ah! It's simple! We need money to live in luxury, to send our children to expensive schools and universities, drive luxury limousines, pay club bills, pay for trips to Singapore for treatment, pay the chamchas, pay the hired goons, go to New York to buy apartments, buy a yacht, and so on. You see, life is meaningless without these, so we need to have an awful lot of money.
Well, the money matter is beginning to sound funny lately with everyone coming up with individual explanations of whitening of black money as proposed by the finance minister. Some have outright rejected the idea. Some are trying to find rationale in it. Others remain non-committal trying to figure out what to say really. It is a complicated subject no doubt.
How much black money do we actually have in the country? Has anyone done an extensive study to find this out? Also, we need to know which money is black and which is not. Is undisclosed money black money? If the total stashed away amount is from smuggling, black marketing, arms dealing, heroin peddling, hoarding and taking bribes, should we allow the owners the "lucrative" ten percent tax to take the rest of the money home? Aren't the crimes mentioned above treated as felonies strong enough to land one in jail for good?
The common idea is, exemption or the facility should be given only to people who have undisclosed or untaxed sums that were earned through legal means. These people could be motivated to invest the whitened money in industries or capital market. But, for God's sake, not smugglers or black marketers! And you don't expect smugglers wanting to invest millions in industries and then wait for profits to come after years, when they could earn a million in a month through sending contraband items across the borders.
Let us conclude by quoting from some Indian journals on black money and money stashed away by Indians in offshore banks. Recently, there was a big debate in India over stashed black money. "Capital flight from India is a serious issue and should be debated seriously," former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh told PTI recently. One report says that Indian wealth in Swiss banks and other offshore tax havens ranges between $500 billion and $1.4 trillion (more than the size of the Indian economy). And for the first time in Indian electoral history, tax reforms have been discussed seriously during the last election in India.
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