A school in India charges Rs 7.35 lakhs as fees. I had written on social media that it should attract the highest GST of 40% as sin tax. A reader replied, “Why should you grudge the rich spending their own money?” My simple answer is that in India there is glaring inequality in wealth distribution, which is not the case in the West.
Here, the wealth is created, in most cases, from the toil and sweat of cheap labour. Take construction — roads, bridges, houses. The labourers get a pittance, unlike in the West where they are paid a decent minimum hourly wage. That’s how the rich get richer and the greed and inequality only increase. That is why a poor country like India ranks 4th in the world in terms of super-rich persons.
