Every drink, toll, or bag of cement in parts of India could be funding cow welfare. Investment banker Sarthak Ahuja highlighted the growing reach of “cow cess” taxes—applied on everything from liquor in Rajasthan to electricity bills in Haryana—raising fresh questions about transparency and return on public money. Advertisement

In a LinkedIn post, Ahuja detailed how multiple Indian states levy indirect taxes explicitly for the protection and welfare of cows. “You pay a Tax for Welfare of Cows every time you drink liquor in Gurgaon and Jaipur… buy a vehicle in Punjab, or purchase cement and sand for construction in UP,” he wrote.

Rajasthan introduced one of the most prominent versions of the tax in 2018—a 20% cow cess on VAT applied to the sale of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), beer,

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