The King, The Government, The People and The Taxes

There was a small kingdom ruled by a king. It was in two segments; the first one was a residential area and the other one, the industrial area, where people used to work. It was separated by a river and the people used to cross the bridge on foot while going for work everyday.

The people were reticent, but very hardworking. Early morning everybody was out for work.

The king was worried, that nobody out of the public had ever come up with any problem. He consulted his adviser and ministers. The financial adviser came up with a bright idea…..”Let’s impose a tax of $10 per person as a crossing fee of the river” the people will come shouting against this tax.

Agreed, and the tax was imposed.

People came to know about it and they started paying the tax, but nobody complained….

The king again consulted his wise men and they proposed another tax of $10 on return from the industrial area.

Agreed, and the tax was imposed.

Nothing happened…no complaints at all…..people started paying tax on both sides of the bridge….

Now the king was angry…. He admonished his financial adviser and again consulted his cabinet…. Now the minister for the interior affairs came up with a novel idea. The idea was that when they pay the tax in the morning, they will also be kicked ….This proposal was very much liked by the king and he said; now people will definitely come up with their grievance….

Now a person crossing the bridge fist paid his tax, then received a full forced kick on his back and then went on his way to work on the other side.

This time again…nobody complained…paying taxes, getting kicked, had no effect on the people…

The king was real furious, he himself gave the order that people will also be kicked on return, when they pay the return tax….

This double tax, getting kicked twice….did not affect the routine of the people… they still used to work hard as ever……No one grudged….

Now it was the limit for the king….he was severely infuriated….he thought what kind of public he was ruling…the people are so mute and unemotional.

 “I imposed a heavy tax along with a kick on their asses and nobody complains?”  

So, one day he went to the bridge early in the morning and stood at the crossing place. The door was closed and the public started gathering….When it became a huge crowd, the king addressed them at the top of his voice,

“I am your king and it is so strange that I imposed a useless double tax and my people also kick you around for nothing…still you people have no complaints at all against the government….speak up… I’m your king….why don’t you people complain?”

There was a pin drop silence…now the king went almost insane with anger….he again repeated his words hysterically… still there was no sound at all.. After a few moments an old man came up…he said, “Sir, we have only one complaint….the king got excited…Yes!!! Come up old man I am listening to you….I’ll solve your problem.

“Sir, we pay our taxes regularly…. We just have one complaint….a lot of time is wasted during the kicking session so I suggest you must please employ more people to kick us…..”