Economics, the tequila way ...

The other day I and my friends decided to have an evening together. It was long since we were deciding and finally the day was here. It was going to be just a booze followed by dinner, so we decided to go to a nearby place having smiley hours. I was happy that we were getting a pint of beer free on every bottle. We were four, off which one of my friend was the odd one out, having only non-alcoholic drinks. We decided to go with 4 bottles of super-chilled beer among three of us. Wow, we were already experiencing the lighter side of life. Beer, of course, with snacks was followed by tequila shots. Two of us were having tequila for the first time; I always wanted to try it and this was the time. What an experience it was! We were told by our experienced third friend to squeeze lemon into it and gulp it all at once, which we followed obediently. And now it was time to experience the never-before feeling of lightness. We had the second shot and it was as if gravity was reduced by half and we were floating in air, a good 6 inches above ground. Our good friend, who was still on ground and who always helps us get home without we realizing it, did his job well that day too :). We were all safe back home. On our way back, we bought ourselves a kulfi each, which I had when I was back home. I had always heard that one should avoid having sweet after a booze, but this was the day to experience. I couldn't sit; I had switched on my computer, which I didn't even bother to switch off and I was off on the bed. The experience that asrtonauts have after travelling all the way to the space, was being experienced by me (probably) on earth.

The following day I just happened to check my wallet, which had the bill we paid. Six tequila shots had cost us a bit more than 800 bucks and it had a whopping 25% VAT on the alcoholic drinks and 12.5% on food and non-alcoholic beverages. The mathematician in me told me how lighter we really were after those tequila shots. One really has to earn 179 bucks (79% tax) to have a booze worth 100 and 161 (61% tax) for the food we have in the restaurant. This is if we only include the income tax that we pay (other taxes are ignored).

Certainly, the income tax is going through a planned reforms phase, but in the mean time government is getting richer at a much faster pace and people are happy with the income tax reduction announced in the latest budget. This is economics, the tequila way; people are happier and lighter as well!