Eunuch Tax Collectors

[kristoff]

20 eunuchs collecting taxes in India

Dancing, singing to the beat of drums, they collect money from shop owners

The Associated Press

PATNA, India - They are India's new tax collectors. Dancing and singing to the beat of drums, about 20 eunuchs in bright saris began going from shop to shop, asking the owners to pay overdue municipal taxes in Patna, the capital of Bihar, one of India's most impoverished and lawless states.

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.

Only 2,000 of Patna's nearly half million residents regularly pay property taxes and water charges, Prasad said. "Tax collection has slipped to 200 million rupees ($4.34 million) a year from the anticipated 700 million rupees ($15.2 million)," he said.

The eunuchs will be asked to help collect outstanding taxes from private homes soon, Prasad said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15635783/

[Slammr (imported)]

We have someone even better in this country -- the good sister. I know, if she showed up at my shop dressed in her red habit, I'd fork over anything I owed.

And -- could you imagine 20 sisters? 20 sisters might be able to cure the budget deficit.

[JesusA (imported)]

I'm writing this from my hotel room at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. This afternoon I passed on this article to a young Indian sex researcher. He thought for a minute and decided that, not only was it a great idea, but that it should work very well. Indian eunuchs may have a new career path opened to them.

[Studlover (imported)]

We have someone even better in this country -- the good sister. I know, if she showed up at my shop dressed in her red habit, I'd fork over anything I owed.

And -- could you imagine 20 sisters? 20 sisters might be able to cure the budget deficit.

Slammr, that's what's gonna happen with the Liberals in Power now. My Right Christian Southern Baptist Republican assured me of that Tuesday. There's gonna be sex in the streets and 98 percent of your pay check will go to taxes.

I didn't think about a nun in a Red Habit as the tax collector!

Wow! America is now going to Hell in hand basket!

Studlover

[Slammr (imported)]

Slammr, that's what's gonna happen with the Liberals in Power now. My Right Christian Southern Baptist Republican assured me of that Tuesday. There's gonna be sex in the streets and 98 percent of your pay check will go to taxes.

I didn't think about a nun in a Red Habit as the tax collector!

Wow! America is now going to Hell in hand basket!

Studlover

You forgot: they're going to take away all your guns; there will be an abortion clinic on every corner; gay marriage will be legalized; and we'll be overrun with illegal aliens. They will probably even remove "in God we trust from coins and "under god" from the pledge of allegiance. The country will be subjected to terrorists attacks, and we'll pull out of Iraq with our tails between our legs.

Ruled by godless democrats, what's a god fearing man to do? They may well elect that whore, Hillary Clinton, as president. Folks -- you are seeing the end of the United States as we know it.

Rise up, Christian soldiers. Out with the godless dogs. Do what you must to get rid of them, these child raping, pornographic loving, queer, Democratic bastards. Show them that this is one nation -- Under God. Castrate all Democrats. Then -- in a generation -- we'll be rid of their kind.

[Studlover (imported)]

You forgot: they're going to take away all your guns; there will be an abortion clinic on every corner; gay marriage will be legalized; and we'll be overrun with illegal aliens. They will probably even remove "in God we trust from coins and "under god" from the pledge of allegiance. The country will be subjected to terrorists attacks, and we'll pull out of Iraq with our tails between our legs.

Ruled by godless democrats, what's a god fearing man to do? They may well elect that whore, Hillary Clinton, as president. Folks -- you are seeing the end of the United States as we know it.

Rise up, Christian soldiers. Out with the godless dogs. Do what you must to get rid of them, these child raping, pornographic loving, queer, Democratic bastards. Show them that this is one nation -- Under God. Castrate all Democrats. Then -- in a generation -- we'll be rid of their kind.

Slammr, Oh HORRORS! I had not thought about all that.

However, we saw

the end of the United States as we know it

January 21, 2001

Studlover

[A-1 (imported)]

...

Ruled by godless democrats, what's a god fearing man to do? They may well elect that whore, Hillary Clinton, as president. Folks -- you are seeing the end of the United States as we know it.

Be it known that I have nothing against either Whores or Hillary Clinton. (Whores includes Bill, too. )

I have not watched Pornography since my "Pornograph" quit working...

Maybe

the end of the United States as we know it

is not a bad thing, it is according to what you plan to replace it with...

In Tennesee, if tax collecters don't start out as Eunuchs, they may end up that way...



A-1

[Pueros]

Eunuch tax collectors are, of course, not new. For example, in my factual story here entitled ‘BYZANTINES ά : SOPHŌTATOS’, I mention a certain Theoctistus, who was the principal adviser to the Byzantine Empress Theodora during her regency.

Theoctistus’ official position was ‘Logothete of the Course’. Logothetes were Imperial tax-collectors, amongst whom the person appointed to the position ‘of the Course’ was the most senior, being effectively the Chancellor in charge of the Byzantine state’s finances.

Theoctistus was also an unusual combination of patrician and eunuch.

Eunuchs were numerous in Byzantine society and were particularly popular at the Imperial court, causing one Emperor to comment that they “swarmed around the Sacred Palace like flies around a cow-shed in the summer”.

As a consequence of the popularity of appointing eunuchs to important and therefore lucrative Imperial posts, many Byzantine parents, who produced several sons, arranged for the youngest to be gelded in infancy. As Theoctistus exemplified, such practices extended even to the most exalted patrician families.

PUEROS