In modern day Lalapore, everything (well almost) works like,
errrr, clockwork. The tapwater runs clean, electricity supply is
consistent, the streets are safe.
To fund its many expensive infrastructural projects, the Lalapore
bureaucracy has perfected a system of tax-collection. A Lalaporean
is taxed whenever he is spending money (like goods&services
tax), and he is taxed even when hes not spending any money (like
income tax). But as we all know, it takes lots of money to
resurface roads every 6 months and to aircondition public buildings
built like glass greenhouses in this tropical heat. Nevertheless,
Lalaporeans have learnt to live with this pay&pay ethos.
But digging a little deeper, some Lalaporean taxes need to be
investigated by the X-files, because these dont make sense at
all.
As mentioned, Lalapore is a small country, but you cant really
tell judging by the number of cars on the road, and how agressive
car-sales have been. Of course, the Lalapore government taxes
heavily every car that is sold in the name of controlling traffic
jams.
An imported car may just cost, for example $20,000 from the
factory, but by the time a Lalaporean gets the car keys, he may
have to fork out over $60,000. The excess $40,000 tax goes to, you
guessed it, the government coffers.
And looking closely at rules-of-car sales enforced by the
government, theres this catergory called transfer fee that works
like a property stamp duty. The transfer fee is a flat fee of
$10 per car, but there is an additional charge based on 2 per cent
of the vehicles value.
Hmmmmmmm
.. thinking about it, this transfers fee is
dubious. 1st, a car-buyer is taxed heavily by the
government when he purchases a car. And when he sells his car, he
has to pay a transfer fee tax on the tax of the car that has
already been paid to the government? So the transfer fee
is a government tax on tax???
Mulder, come in Mulder
(1st blogged here http://blueheeler.wordpress.com/2006/11/27/tales-from-lalapore-part-2/)