President Barack Obama’s proposal to end tax rebates for those who outsource has sent India into a tizzy and questions are being raised on whether the US is protective or even paranoid. Before we make such judgements, can we examine our own policies and confirm whether they are more open than those of the US? In Europe, more than 20 countries have adopted one currency, uniform commercial taxes and so on. Here you can’t bring anything into Mumbai from even Thane without octroi. There are a hundred different rates in various states and the Constitution even allows states to set up “reasonable” barriers to inter-state trade. So let us first make India one commercial entity before pointing fingers at the US.
T R Ramaswami, Mumbai
