‘We get taxed 7 times’: Gurgaon executive says salary feels like subscription to own money

You earn, you pay tax. Then you spend—and pay more tax. For India’s salaried class, that’s not just routine—it’s relentless.

A LinkedIn post by Gurgaon-based VP Sachin G has captured widespread frustration by listing how salaried individuals are effectively taxed seven times on the same money.

Reacting to a post by a CMO, Amit Tilekar, who questioned why workers pay tax both on income and on almost every subsequent expense, Sachin laid it out bluntly: “Not once. Not twice. We get taxed seven times—on the same money.”

He then listed them: Income Tax for earning, GST for eating, Excise Duty for fueling your car, VAT on everyday goods, Stamp Duty when buying property, Property Tax for owning it, and Capital Gains or Dividend Tax if you invest.

He pointed out that all of this happens after the government has already taken its initial share through TDS. The money left in your account—your so-called “income”—is still subject to layer after layer of additional deductions every time you use it. “Same money. Taxed again. And again. And AGAIN,” he wrote, adding that there are no loopholes, no offshore tricks, no creative accounting involved. Just honest earnings, hit repeatedly by different forms of taxation.

While clarifying he’s not an economist, Sachin expressed a sentiment many resonate with: being willing to contribute, but only until it starts feeling like “a subscription plan for my own money.” He coined the phrase “Tax-as-a-Service (TaaS)” to describe the current state of affairs.

Tilekar’s original post struck a similar tone, asking, “Why are we paying taxes twice on the same money?” and noting that the burden feels heaviest on those who can’t avoid it, even if they wanted to.

Together, the posts highlight a growing unease among professionals who feel their honest earnings are being squeezed at every turn—not because they want to evade taxes, but because they have no room to breathe between them.