I occasionally visit one of my brothers in his handicraft factory. He had been exporting to China, Nepali handicrafts for past 15 years. I idolize him for his hard work and patience to work with the Nepali system. Not only government but also his vendors and buyers. Though his 90% buyers are Chinese, he says it is as hard to work with them as it is with any other nationalities. “Tetikai Nepali sanga kaam garna garo bhanchan, Chinese sanga garey pacchi Indian haru lai birsincha baa!!”

So today, randomly I went to his factory to pick few things and I was treated with a nice cup of steaming hot coffee in this rainy day in Kathmandu. Somewhere I heard he is one of a major exporter from Nepal to China. And since he exports, he gets his VAT return every year. So my calculation is, if he exports goods worth 1 crore (10 million) he gets 13 lakhs back (1.3 million) each year. It was a very hesitant question to ask anyone's business numbers, I dared to ask him how much does he export each year. Surprisingly he was very comfortable to answer, maybe coz he has all his paperwork and account well maintained in ek number hisab.
For once I was spaced out with the amount he said. He also added that it has good returns if one can work a little harder and export goods outside Nepal. You dont need to send it to Europe or America. You can just send it to India or China and make a lot. So I wanted to clear out if the VAT returns actually comes to his pocket. He chuckled. “baini, you really think I will run around crazy during the year ending if I had no returns?”.

I know I was very stupid to ask that. Then my calculative brain started working. Again asked “Dai, 13% purai firta aaucha?”. This time he laughed. “hey bhagwan! Keti Nepal ma purai paisa firta aaye ta gajab huncha. I only get 8% of it, rest they keep it.”

So the story is, he gets his 13% return from the Nepal government but in the process to get back, the government officials will take their commission aka cut which varies according to how much you can bargain and negotiate. It all depends on how good you are with these kinda negotiation. My dai is good at these taktuk negotiations. So he got his 8% back. But there is his another cousin, who only gets 4-5% of his returns. Why?? coz he send a middleman to bargain and that middleman took his percentage which apparently this guy didnt know about ( I call him not only stupid but king of imbeciles coz he was lazy not to have a hawk eye on his business returns). My point is not about how much percentage each one of them are getting but how shamelessly and with audacity, the government officials are taking commissions. This is not a new story, it has been going on for generations. When I asked my dad about this, he says that it has actually grown more with, more educated guys getting involved in the system. Previously the Subba and Kardars used to say “ herera dinnus na” but now the guys are smarter and they calculation their benefits and have their numbers pre determined.

“Aaba system nai corrupt bhaye pacchi sabai le aatt garcha ni” is my dad's comment. If an authority like CIAA is lead by a state proclaimed ineligible and useless person called Mr. Lok Man Karki, who wouldnt dare, right?? This is called game of power. 2 weeks ago, I overheard in a tea shop conversation ( oh these are the places where the most intellectual debates and political analysis takes place....trust me), an intellect was saying that each month Mr. Karki has to submit 25 crore ( how much is that in a million plz calculate) to Mr. Prachanda. I dont know if this is true or speculation but I want to believe it to be true. Now think how will Mr. Karki earns to meet the 25 crore each month....mind it this is only for Mr. Prachanda and he needs to make for himself as well.

The entire calculation made me feel so bad for people who are working hard to make money, and in so many ways keeping the Nepali culture alive and promoting. But if I export and I only get 8% out of my 13%, honestly I will just give them their 5% and keep my share and just keep working. This is how it works in Nepal and I am not going to retaliate. This is one of the smallest sad story of people working in Nepal. We are helpless and we are controlled by people who have half the ability to do things for the country. It is not being pessimist but practical in a scenario like this. This is sad!