Coming Soon-10 different taxes on Bloggers!

Looks like the government is all set to tax the online users-particularly bloggers. Read news here and here. While details of this new tax is yet to be disclosed fully, eNidhi India spies in the government have unearthed secret files listing all potential taxes that will be unleashed on the bloggers in near future. Read it and embrace yourself… (Warning- for now it is pure work of fiction, but soon these may be a reality, don't tell me I didn't warn you!)

1. Visitor tax

Traffic is money baby… if you are getting lots of visitors, then you must be super rich and you will be taxed. Depending on number of visitors your bloggers get, a part will be taken away by the government. 

• If you have up to 3 lakh visitors per year, you should redirect 10% of visitors to various government websites
• If you have between 3 lakh to 10 lakh visitors, you should redirect 20% of them to government websites that nobody wants to visit
• If you have more than 10 lakh visitors per year, you need to force 30% of them away to government websites

Note that above traffic diversion must be done at source- i.e. first you should divert visitors to govt websites and once tax % is met, then you can have visitors stay at your page. Half way through next financial year, if you can prove that you have sent more visitors to govt sites than you are required to, then you can file for a refund, which govt will consider, if possible… (If at all their sites get some traffic, few might be sent to your blog)

Standard deduction applicable on posts written for social causes, pension fund investments and other government approved topics.

2. Flipkart voucher tax

If you ever get a flipkart voucher, remember it is taxable. Say you get a voucher of value 1500 Rs, you need to buy something for Rs 150 for a government office near you, rest you can buy something for yourself.

3. Product review tax

If you get a product for review- like a mobile phone, you should give it to a government babu first for a few days before you can use it yourself and review.

4. Hyperlink tax

For every link you are giving to external sites, one link should be given to government websites

5. Comment tax

For every 10 comment you get, you should go and write one comment on government blogs- positive comments only-else it won't count.

6. FAM tax

If you are going on FAM trips, you should ensure that 20% each is reserved for SC/ST/OBC/Jatt/Patels etc, else you should take them at your own expense. (Don't ask me what % will be left for General- I didn't make these rules)

7. Sponsored post tax

For each sponsored post you take up, you will publish one post hailing one of the government schemes and its advantages, begin with a post on this new “tax-the-hell-out-of-bloggers” scheme!

8. Travel-in-India Tax

Each time you go out to an exotic foreign location and write about it, you should find closest Indian city/attraction similar to it and write about it, to encourage Travel-Within-India scheme. For example, if you visit and blog about Grand Canyon in US, you should also write about Gandikota in AP, if you visit Great Ocean Road in Australia, you should also write about East Coast Road in TN, if you write about mountains in Switzerland, you should mandatorily write about Himalayas and so on...

9. Influencer tax

You can’t change TV channel at home but you walk around online claiming yourself an influencer? Achtung!- taxman is watching you: You should be able to exercise your influence and enroll more and more bloggers to Give-it-all-up – where 100% of your blogging revenue will be taken by the government, 50% will be retained as tax and rest will be paid to you after 2 months. You will be forced to lead by example! (P.S. This scheme is voluntary in the beginning, if not enough bloggers give up their income, then this will be made mandatory soon)

10. Top Blogger tax

Each time some random, unknown website lists you as top blogger, Additional 10% top blogger cess is applicable to you on all above taxes. Read eNidhi India list of top sites listing top blogger.

While in principle it is fine to impose a tax on cash income generated through blogging, that should be imposed on the net income after deducting all expenses related to blogging- such as domain and hosting expenses, internet and mobile bills, travel expense to blogger meets, money spent on camera, travel, food etc (depending on each blogger’s area of specialization etc). This way blog can be treated as a SME (Small and Medium Enterprise). Else taxing is unjustified.