After swapping information as to the general state of affairs
in their respective personal lives (I mean—how are you? how is your health? How
is your family?, etc, the jackal fired an impromptu salvo which made the Finmin
shudder. “How is the economy?”he asked. “Oh, better than other developing
countries,” mumbled the Finmin. “But not up to the mark?” questioned the jackal.
“You know there is recession in the world and we are not an exception,” retorted
the Finmin, looking at the ground (rather ground realities maybe). “I heard the
prices of essential goods such as food grains and vegetables are on the rise
with every passing day, after your party assumed power at the centre, making the
aam aadmi’s life miserable,” was the next salvo fired by the jackal.
The Finmin shifted awkwardly in a clumsy attempt to avoid the
jackal’s penetrating eyes. He seemed to be struggling to find a convincing
enough answer. Looking at him fumbling, the jackal promptly changed the subject
and started discussing other matters like growing terrorism, global warming,
decline in population of wild animals, population explosion, falling moral
standards, etc. Having exhausted all topics of mutual interest, it was the
jackal’s turn to fidget. So he decided to march onwards on his original mission
to meet the King of the jungle. “So it was nice seeing you Finmin. Take care of
the economy and have a nice budget session in parliament. It’s time for me to
leave now,” said the jackal. As he walked ahead, he heard the Finmin call out, “Jackalbhai,
jackalbhai, just a moment”. So he retraced his steps hurriedly. “What’s the
matter, Finmin?”, he asked. “Actually, me and my predecessors have been obsessed
with one issue,” said the Finmin. “What is it?”, asked the jackal. “How to boost
tax collection,” finally the Finmin blurted out.
“Oh, a most interesting issue. Once upon a time, the king of
our jungle, I mean, the Lion, was facing a similar kind of problem. One day, I
called on the king in his den located at a high altitude, at his request.
Somehow I managed to get there after several bruises on my body. I fumbled a
number of times on the rocks on the way to the den. It was quite a bumpy path to
tread. When I climbed half way, I even thought of postponing the visit to some
other day and as soon as I turned back, I heard the Lion roar. I climbed back. I
felt like riding on the high tide when eventually I reached the den. The king
asked me to enter his den. It was difficult entering the den and the den wasn’t
big enough to accommodate more than two or three persons. Well, the king
narrated his problem. He had become old and he was starving. Old age meant he
could not hunt as frequently as he used to earlier. Not a single animal, big or
small, had appeared in his area since quite some time. He asked me how to get to
the prey.
I thought for a while and then came up with the solution,
which was based on my own experience of reaching the den. I first told the king
that he should change the location of his den, making it neither too high nor
too low. I meant his den should be located ideally so that he could keep a watch
on possible prey without being seen. Around the den, there should be sufficient
flat land on which grass can grow. The opening of the den should be wide enough
plus it should be sufficiently deep inside so that if an animal enters
reluctantly, the king can capture him effortlessly.
I explained to the king the reasoning behind this arrangement
of the den. If the den was located at a reasonable height from the ground, one
might be tempted to venture there. Green grass, being a favorite fodder for
small animals, it would attract them into his den.
He understood my strategy, “simple and easy access with some
attraction keeping the prey engaged for a while so that he could attack the prey
easily”. The king thanked me from the bottom of his heart. Thereafter, he
changed the location of his den as suggested by me and started living retired
life comfortably.
“So Finmin, the moral of the story is that you should evolve
simple tax compliance procedures, particularly about tax collection matters.
Your existing procedures are like the erstwhile den of the king. So, you have
been starving for tax collection…”
