Microsoft Tax Demand - Pot Calling Kettle Black?
AN IITian returned from US after working for some years there and wanted to set up a small office in India. He wanted to buy some computers and called for the quotations. All the quotations received contained only the price of the hardware. When he asked why they have not included the price of software like Windows and MS Office in the quotations, they looked at him as if an ignorant creature from Mars and said “we give it free” (pirated, of course!). We are so much used to piracy that we feel as if it is our birthright and always forget that there is a legal version available in the market. And most of the Government offices use pirated software.
You go to any Central Excise office from the lowly Range Office to the mighty CC's office – you will find hundreds of computers using pirated versions of ‘Windows' and ‘MS Office'.
Remember the Service Tax demand of Rs 125 crores on Microsoft? It may not be surprising if the SCN was typed on a pirated MS Office. What if Microsoft launches legal action against the Central Excise Department? Maybe after deducting the 125 crores , the department would have to pay a couple of hundred crores to Microsoft.
The Central Excise Department is going great guns with the new avatar of Audit, the CAAP . Reportedly CAAP uses IDEA software and the legal version of this software costs around Rs 48,000/-. While hundreds of CDs are bought for CAAP with no problem of funds, why do they take it for granted when it comes to buying Microsoft products? Piracy is birthright?
And this is the very department which alleges Microsoft with suppression of facts to evade taxes !!!!
Isn't a Law Enforcing Department expected to obey the laws of the land and maybe a day will come when Central Excise Officers may be appointed to enforce anti-piracy laws – then they need not leave their offices to book cases – they can get all the cases in their own offices. When the Department is overactive in demanding tax from Microsoft, why should it steal software from Microsoft and with impunity?
The Distinguished Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, MC Chagla once remarked that every moment of our life is spent in either obeying or disobeying a Law. The Prime Chief Minister of Bombay Morarjee Desai was not impressed. He sent a letter to Chagla that he expected the Chief Justice to obey all the laws and not disobey some of them. Desai was actually referring to Chagla's drinking habits in the prohibition-enforced State of Bombay – but Chagla had a licence to drink!
Now, shouldn't CBEC set an example as a law abiding government authority? They should direct all their officers to use only licenced software in the offices and perhaps Board should first check up whether the software used in the Board computers are licenced ones!
Law Breakers have no moral authority to enforce LAW.