Any other suggestions for suitable instruments for the tax collectors...

Taxing on the ears for late payers
By Peter Foster in New Delhi
(Filed: 12/03/2005)

Tax collectors in southern India have come up with an unusual - but highly effective - scheme to encourage slow payers to settle outstanding bills.

Ten-strong teams of wedding drummers are being paid to set up camp outside the homes of defaulting residents, with orders to continue playing until they pay up.

The scheme is being implemented by city officials in Hyderabad which is owed 50 million rupees (£625,000) in unpaid taxes.

"They make a damned big racket," said T S R Anjaneyulu, a municipal tax commissioner, "and even the neighbours approve because they get to see who hasn't paid up their bills.

"The drummers set up outside defaulters' residences and when the owners come out to complain we tell them how much tax they need to pay to halt the music. It's just the motivation they need."

There are 20 cacophonous groups at work at present as the city rushes to meet tax collection targets by March 31, the end of the financial year.

The bands were introduced after other, more humane attempts to extract the arrears such as waiving any accrued interest or penalty charges failed to produce results.

By contrast, since the drummers started a week ago the money has been pouring in with almost 20 per cent of the backlog now cleared.

It is not yet clear whether the federal revenue service will take a tip from Hyderabad, but Mr Anjaneyulu is convinced the drumming idea will soon catch on. "We've already had inquiries from other city corporations."