Your Tax Collectors Are What?

The City of Patna, the capital of Bihar state in India, has been having a great deal of trouble collecting taxes. So much so that their revenue has dropped from an expected 700 million rupees ($15.2 million) per year to only 200 million rupees ($4.34 million). Now, that is a big problem with revenue. So the city has gotten creative in their efforts to collect back taxes.

They have hired a squad of eunuchs as collection agents.

They were hired by Patna's Municipal Corporation on Wednesday after the city's tax arrears ran into the millions, said Atul Prasad, the municipal administrator.

Revenue officials accompany the eunuchs with tax records to settle the outstanding arrears on the spot.

Indian rulers once castrated boys to create eunuchs to work in their harems. But eunuchs today are generally males with partial genitals or who opt for castration because of strong female feelings.

They often make a living on tips for dancing at weddings and blessing newborn babies, and are believed to be stubborn and not take no for an answer.

The new tax collectors met with considerable success in their first day in the job. They collected 425,000 rupees ($9,240) from shop owners, said Bharat Sharma, a revenue officer.

"We are confident that their reputation and persuasive skills will come in handy for the municipal authorities to collect taxes from defaulters," Sharma told The Associated Press.

The eunuchs are not given a salary and instead receive 4 percent of the amount they collect from defaulters, Prasad said.

According to this story, the tactics they use are a bit unusual:

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Eunuchs in eastern India were drafted by authorities to sing outside the homes of tax evaders to embarrass them into paying up, a report has said.

Sari-clad eunuchs were out in force with municipal tax collectors Wednesday in Patna, capital of Bihar, India's most lawless state, the Indian Express reported.

"Pay the tax, pay the Patna Municipal Corporation tax," chorused the eunuchs on the doorstep of their first target, Ram Sagar Singh, who owed 100,000 rupees (2,240 dollars).

A mortified Singh promised to pay within a week, the report said.

We would make a joke about a certain agency of the United States government here, but we prefer not to be audited. Or visited. Or noticed in any way whatsoever. Thank you.