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 heÂ’s 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 donÂ’t make sense at all.
As mentioned, Lalapore is a small country, but you can’t 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, there’s 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 vehicle’s value.
HmmmmmmmÂ….. 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/)