How much tax should I pay?

http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/sep/14tax.htm

http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2005/dec/29tax.htm

Happened to read these stuff in rediff.com. It talks about income-tax implications on various investments. It's worth reading.

The Perils of Java Schools

Joel Spolsky of joelonsoftware.com has written an article titled "The Perils of Java Schools". Joel blames on Java-only schools. Well, he has a valid point. Universities shouldn't discard other lanuages when they teach computer science. Infact, JVM itself is written in native code and the OS where the JVM runs is also written in native code. And there are other places where Java is not used. But I don't understand how Java prevents programmers to do recursive proramming. Joel should make a distinction between the implementation language and the programming technique. Agreed, Java doesn't have pointers. Java has its own reason not to have pointers. But then this has lead to more productivity among the programmers. Who would want to waste his time dealing with segfaults when implementing an enterprise software that changes frequently? Java is not just in enterprise software though. It's in small devices (courtesy: JME). It's used in gaming software. Schools shouldn't be meant as a place where inefficient students are weeded out. We already have a screening system where the student candidates are weeded out and we also have exams to rank the students. Java shouldn't be a reason to blame the inefficiencies on the part of students or the schools. It's the syllabus framed by the university and the tests conducted by the schools to be blamed. But then, shouldn't the companies have proper system to weed-out the inefficient candidates?

What is EET?

EET is Exempt-Exempt-Tax. This is a form of tax system used to tax the savings. There are 3 stages in savings - first you contribute a certain amount to your savings, next the benefits in the form of interest & bonus accrue to your savings and in the end, after the maturity period you withdraw your contribution & the benefits accrued. In short, we can call those stages as contribution, benefit accrual and withdrawal. In EET, contribtion and benefits accrued are exempt from tax, but withdrawals are taxed. So, what does this mean? The payment of income tax is basically delayed till the maturity of your savings.
Currently, we have EEE form of tax system in India for most forms of savings. But the Indian government is already studying the feasibility of EET system based on the proposal made in the 2005-06 budget. We should get to know shortly in the next 2 months what savings get into the ambit of EET.
Given the current performance of stock markets and its future potential, the move to EET system will force the investors to put their money into equities & equity-linked mutual funds and stay invested for atleast 1-year. This is because the dividends are not taxable and the withdrawal amount is also not taxable, if withdrawed after 1-year. Having said that, the investor should carefully select the stocks and the mutual funds so that he makes more money compared to the benefits accruable on the savings. But one should remember the fact that the amount invested in equity-related instruments is not tax-exempt in the contribution stage. So, this would become TEE form of tax system. :)