Taxing the poor

Subir Roy makes a superb point in Business Standard today:

The government should remove all duties on the import of ingredients and manufacture of vital medicines. Devi Shetty, an iconic evangelical doctor, makes the startling point that “22-25 per cent of the money spent by a person in pain goes to the government. Every policy of the government is made looking at corporate hospitals in Delhi, Madras.” This is clearly an area where the government can and must act. By all means tax the incomes of corporate hospitals but why levy indirect taxes on medicines for the poor?