No reason for disquiet among tax officials: FM

A day after around 70,000 tax officials warned of non-cooperation movement opposing some recent decisions taken by the GST Council, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said that he saw no reason for disquiet among officials, as number of people needed in Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) will remain unchanged.

“The extent of tax to be collected will expand, the economic activities will expand. There will be adequate opportunities, I see no reason for disquiet. You should not feel this insecurity,” Jaitley said at an event.

CBEC officiers are opposing the ceding of tax administration work by the Centre to states under the goods and services tax (GST) regime.

Some indirect tax associations have threatened they will observe ‘black day’ by wearing black badges on January 30, Martyrs’ Day.

The associations have said that their members are “highly disappointed” and feel “cheated” over the decisions taken by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley-led GST Council in its meeting on January 16. The GST Council has agreeed that states will have control over 90% of the taxpayer base whose revenue is less than Rs 1.5 crore. Only remaining 10% control will remain with the Centre.

This according to the CBEC officers will imply that a substantial service taxpayer base will go to the states.

The centre has administered service tax for more than 22 years but the states have no experience in administering this tax, according to the officers.

Jaitley said that GST is the biggest indirect tax reform of the era and that changes and evolution will not be held back because of resistance.