• Economy
    Read more

    Supply Side Restrictions: A source of rent for the sellers

    The Ministry of Home Affairs has come up with the new executive order, which if comes into action will have stricter control over the production, distribution and consumption of alcohol. One of the proposed regulations of the government is to limit the number of liquor store to two in each ward of a municipality/sub- metropolitan city/ metropolitan city and one in each ward of a rural municipality. Apart from health damages, the government asserts that alcohol consumption is one of the major reasons behind rising domestic violence, rapes and sexual abuses. In that sense, government’s intention to regulate alcohol is fairly justified. But, the consequences of such action could be completely different from what is initially intended. Continue reading

    Published by:
  • Economy
    Read more

    Unintended Consequences of Unthoughtful Orders

    The executive order that prohibits selling, distributing and drinking alcohol outdoors in hotels, resorts, restaurants, and bars is done with the intention to reduce the consumption of alcohol in Nepal but instead, this will have unintended consequences. There will be a decline in the amusement, entertainment and hospitality industries as most of them profit from selling legal alcohol. Continue reading

    Published by:
  • Uncategorized
    Read more

    Restrictions going too far?

    The Government of Nepal has proposed stringent laws to regulate the alcohol consumption in the country. The government officials, through this executive order, claim that the influence of advertising on underage drinking as well as incidents of violence and crime will plummet. The new bill, if enacted, will prohibit liquor advertisements in both print and electronic media. The directive also bars the manufacturers of alcoholic beverages to sponsor sporting events, concerts and other public events. Continue reading

    Published by:
  • Economy
    Read more

    Clocking Alcohol Availability?

    Nepal, like many other nations, has recently planned to adapt regulations which intend to reduce the alcohol consumption of the whole country through supply side interventions. As per the proposed directive, the hotels, bar and restaurants are likely to be restricted from selling alcoholic beverages prior to 5:00 P.M and after 10:00 P.M, while the liquor stores are allowed to perform transactions related to bottled alcohol between 4:00 P.M to 9:00 P.M. Continue reading

    Published by:
  • Economy
    Read more

    Cost of Paying Taxes in Nepal

     

    The current tax system of Nepal, being overly complicated and lengthy, amounts to an annual loss of more than 24,300,000* hours of the taxpayers.  This has resulted in an increase in the relative cost of paying taxes, as the time lost by the individuals could be invested into generating additional income. While the monetary payment that an individual or an organization has to make periodically is already burdensome for many, the requirement to comply with the administrative activities, imposes an additional burden. In such a scenario, it makes sense for firms and individuals to do away with this system, accounting for fewer taxpayers in the economy.

    Introducing efficiency into the tax system would not only incentivize individuals to pay tax religiously, but also would allow NRs. 1,142,100,000* to be added to the economy, generating additional NRs. 57,105,000* tax revenue for the government. This makes the simplification of complex provisions that persists, beneficial to both the government and the taxpayers. Continue reading

    Published by:
  • Philosophy
    Read more

    Leveraging Intellectuals to promote liberal values

    (This article was originally published in the Himalayan Times on the 4th August, 2018)

    The constitution of Nepal in its preamble defines the country being committed to the socialism based on democratic norms. Socialism is the political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

    Socialism has never been a movement of the working class, it has always been a cliché. For long time the tendencies of these abstract thought have been derived from certain drifts with which only the intellectuals are familiar. Socialist idea is the long effort of the intellectuals before the working classes could be persuaded to adopt it as their program. Intellectuals of todays and of the past have played a crucial role to fantasize the idea of socialism, though the idea doesn’t seem to have worked well in the globe. Continue reading

    Published by: