Mostly I think that peoples support for paying taxes is proportional to the perceived value they receive from them, and how fairly they are being applied (c.f. Denmark vs. USA - and note that "perceived" is important, and subject to manipulation)
I don't know the details, but plausibly could you argue that India's real problem lies in government inefficiency and/or corruption?
>>plausibly could you argue that India's real problem lies in government inefficiency and/or corruption?
Your are assuming corruption is an phenomenon that is generated in total isolation without other factors contributing to it.
Both government inefficiency and corruption have roots in lack of accountability.
I suspect you can chase the turtles down quite a ways - and I already specified I don't know the details.
It wasn't really about India but about the idea that people somehow inherently dislike paying taxes, rather than feel like they are getting ripped off when paying them. It's a complex issue regardless of the country and culture.
Any where, where there are cash transactions this is an issue. In India, apart from salaried people taxed at source almost anybody else rarely if ever pays taxes. Its assumed taxes are only what stupid people pay.
And since they make up for a huge vote bank, any move to introduce reforms for cashless payments are resisted. Plus contribution to political parties happens in cash so politicians themselves don't want it.
This leads to a situation where the tax burden is expected to be endlessly on the salaried middle class and they are expected to pay up unfairly all the time.
Privacy aside, the true reason is people just don't want to pay taxes.