Indian government wants to "simplify" tax laws. Hah!

In a bid to milk the salaried class even further, the greedy Congress government wants to remove various tax exemptions under the guise of simplification of tax laws. Go to the Income Tax website and read the 5th paragraph. The government wants to remove tax ememptions on various schemes like NSC, LIC, HRA, Mutual funds, housing loans, etc.

Salaried people in India pay the most tax as compared to businessmen and self employed people. With TDS, there is no room for discrepancies and salaried people are already being milked to the hilt. Instead of having good procedures, rules and laws to get more people into the tax net, the government wants to take the easy way out and get more tax out of the people who sincerely pay tax every year to the government. What do we have to show for it? Scams and more scams by politicians and bureaucrats. Large scale corruption and tax money going down the drain in ineffectual policies and wastage of tax payer’s money year after year.

It is shameful that the government is so scared to tighten up tax laws and rules and get tax evaders to pay tax correctly and instead is going after small fry like the salaried class. And there is double taxation in everything, we pay taxes on salary and then pay sales tax and service tax again.

However there is a way out. The government has invited feedback on these future decisions from people like you and me, and will take decisions on the policies based on the feedback received.

Please visit the Income Tax website and download the document on various exemptions from there. Else follow this link directly. It has all details. Send a mail to one of the people mentioned in the document stating whether you want the government to continue or discard these policies. I have already sent a mail with much of what is in this post, and also asking for the following policies to be continued: 10(5), 10(10)(i), 10(10)(ii), 10(10)(iii), 10(10A), 10(10AA), 10(12), 10(13A), 10(14), 10(15)(i), 10(15)(iv)(h), 10(16), 10(23AAB), 10(38), 54, 54EC, 54F, 80C, 80CCC, 80CCD, 80-D, 80-DD, 80-DDB, 80-E, 80-GG, 80-QQB, 80-RRB, 80U.

I strongly urge all readers to send feedback on the policies before it is too late. Please also inform others about it. This is an extremely important matter that concerns all of us.

Blue Security is down!

After a long hard fight, Blue Security has folded up. Unfortunately, for the rest of us. Blue Security was no ordinary firm. Blue Security was an Israeli firm which was fighting against spam, and was turning out to be quite successful. It was taking the fight to the spammers doorstep. You can read about what they were doing on Spam Wars: Blue Security Strikes Back.

I was one of their half million and growing users, helping them to fight spam by forwarding them every single spam mail I got. They actually managed to get 6 of the top 10 bulk emailers to stop spamming any Blue Security user. Which was an awesome achievement! However one spammer hit back with vengeance and caused huge collateral damage on the internet. Read the full story Blue Security folds under spammer's wrath. It reads like a fast paced thriller.

From the last few weeks my mail forwards to them have been bouncing, but I never suspected that they might be fighting such a huge internet battle. Today I googled for Blue Security and came across a bunch of news on them.

Its a real loss for the Internet worlds, people like you and me. 2/3rds of the e-mail traffic today is spam, and here was one brave group fighting for the future of the internet. I applaud Blue Security for what they were trying to do, and finally for voluntarily giving up. Awesome guys! Hope to see you guys around on the internet again.

Photoblog: John Alsop bridge

John Alsop bridge, originally uploaded by Gunslinger.

The John Alsop bridge in Jacksonville, Florida on a late evening in May.

Photoblog: Munchen Townhall

The townhall in Munchen stands up against a darkning sky on a late evening in April.