A Reddit user earning Rs 48 lakh, who has received a job paying Rs 75 lakh has a dilemma that has sparked an online debate on the platform. In the post, the user claims to have 20 years of experience but is hesitant to accept the new job because of the massive rise in tax t hat comes with the higher salary.
Currently, the user pays around Rs 12 lakh in income tax and with the new salary, the tax would nearly double to Rs 22 lakh, mainly because of the 10% surcharge applicable on income exceeding Rs 50 lakh under India’s personal income tax laws.
The gross jump in salary looks good but the effective gain in take-home pay is only about 50%, after a major chunk is paid in taxes.
The post added that the new offer does not come with flexibility to include tax-saving components, such as allowances or benefits, which could have reduced the tax.
He posed a single question that has the Reddit community in discussion: “Why should I work significantly harder just to pay more to the government, without receiving any additional tangible benefits compared to those who pay little or no tax?”
Here’s what other users said
Internet users trolled the post for being “profoundly stupid” and said that he was suffering from success.
While some explained why the user should accept the job, others bluntly called him “stupid”.
“Ye kya suffering from success post hai bhai? We don’t reply to such issues cause we don’t have the experience of success,” an irritated user said.
“So… You’re taking home 50% more pay than you are right now, but you don’t want that because you’ll be paying more in taxes? Give me your problems, bro,” another user said.
In a sarcastic jibe, one user said, “Quit your job. Will decrease tax burden by 100%”
“It’s been a while since I read something this profoundly stupid,” added another.
“This is a very stupid question. Specially from someone with 20 years of experience. I’d expect this from a fresher,” said another user. “Just extremely extremely stupid. I don’t know why but I’m actually offended at this,” the user added.
“If you want to rant about tax it’s fine. But your premise that ‘I’d get a 50% salary bump, should I take the job?’ Is so so so stupid,” they continued.
After being criticised for the post, the user replied: “Most of the comments are missing the point: Why slog your a** off and pay double the tax to the government, when you do not get any additional benefits from the government compared to a non-taxpayer? Does it not rile you all internally?”