Whitening of Black Money in Budget: Death Blow on Citizen’s Morality

Abstract

In the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th Edition) Black money has been defined as 'Income, as from illegal activities, that is not reported to the government for tax purposes.' Even though the existence of black money and its strong influence on economy is a reality, in almost all countries of the world there prevails tremendous hatred for it, of course for genuine reasons. The worst suffering countries from black money (mainly from drugs) are Colombia and Mexico. Seven other countries with the same problem are Afghanistan, New Zealand, Russia, Britain, The United States, Iran and Australia. Any primary student of Economics knows what 'Black Money' is. In such a situation, if responsible persons like ministers opine that there is nothing like 'black and white money,' one has to realize there might be grave reason behind their conviction. The Indian subcontinent is the region where qualities like ethics, morality, honesty etc. have been practised for thousands of years. As an intricate part of this subcontinent, Bangladesh inherits that tradition. Even though the land at times becomes veiled with cloud of evils, truth and honesty has been found to win in the long run. However, the little shining ray of honesty the citizens of this country saw after the fall of the BNP government in 2007 has once again been blackened due to the policy of 'legalization of black money' in the 2009 budget.