- I Paid A Bribe
- 12 years ago
- 774 views
42.4% Corruption Tax
- Commercial Tax, Sales Tax, VAT
- Sales Tax Payment
- Paid INR 2,120
This happened almost 5-6 years back. A Rs. 5,000 worth computer was sent to me from China as a sample. I was exploring the possibility to introduce it in schools for the poor so that underprivileged children to get the opportunity to learn. I had to get ti released from the sales tax office in Kolkata. Just fresh out of college as a 21 year old it was my first experience with corruption. As i was in the office, first a peon had to be paid Rs. 20 for my arrival information to be passed on to a clerk. Next i had to shell out Rs.100 for the clerk to take out my file and pass it on to the officer. The officer was neither willing to look at the computer nor listen to me and estimated the value of the pc at Rs. 50,000 and proposed me to pay Rs. 4000 sales tax on it or simply pay Rs. 2000 (50%) to him. I accepted to pay him. He released it without a single pay to the govt. exchequer. I did a wrong thing but i was helpless. I couldn't have paid 4000 on a 5000 worth asset.