The Government of Andhra Pradesh is apparently considering imposing user charges on the most unusual of activities - policing faction hit areas! There is a proposal to revive a British time punitive tax on factionists, in the faction ridden Rayalaseema region of the state.
The tax would be collected from each factionist in a village and used to maintain a "punitive outpost" there. Factionists will presumably be identified by the formal cases registered against them in the local police stations. The tax proceeds will pay for the salaries of the police personnel employed there, and the other costs of maintaining the outpost. It is hoped that this tax will help overcome the resource scarcity that hampers effective maintenance of law and order in such areas. The factionists will now have to pay huge sums to those who are trying to contain their activities!
A logical extension to this would be to impose a similar tax on all the identified trouble makers within a police station area, called Known Depradors (KDs). Besides raising much needed revenue, this tax will also serve as a punitive tariff against these anti-social elements. Such a tax would be an economically efficient way of internalizing the negative externality imposed on the society by way of the anti-social activities of these individuals. The tax so raised can be used to deploy additional policemen and equip them better to contain the anti-social behaviour of the KDs.
Update 1
Inspired by the imprisonment of Bernard Madoff, a New York Republican has introduced a bill in the State Senate that would require rich inmates to pay for their involuntary stay in New York’s prisons. In this "pay-if-you-go" model, wealthy inmates pay for their own incarceration costs, thereby easing the burden on taxpayers. See also this.
No comments:
Post a Comment