Jaitley asks I-T sleuths to curb parallel economy

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday asked income tax (I-T) officials to be prompt in redressing the grievances of taxpayers and expand the tax base in a non-intrusive manner even as they strive to achieve revenue generation targets.

He said that honest taxpayers should not be afraid of the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015 (Black Money Bill), recently passed by Parliament as it is targeted against those who have stashed their illegal assets abroad.

The finance minister said this while addressing the annual conference of senior officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). “The parallel economy has to be squeezed and this has to be done in a very fair manner, not in a harsh manner. In doing so, as senior officers you have to maintain the highest standard of integrity,” he told officials.

Rate targets global levels
There is no official estimation of black money in the country or abroad, An unofficial estimate, however, puts the illegal money stashed away overseas as between $466 billion and $1.4 trillion. Jaitley said the government has taken a host of measures to curb the menace of black money. These include passage of the Black Money Bill by Parliament and introduction of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2015. Jaitley also spelt out his vision of an internationally competitive tax regime with a stable policy and a non-adversarial tax administration.

“We have to bring the tax rate at global level while at the same time remove the exemptions,” he said speaking on direct taxation. The Budget for 2015-16 proposed to bring down corporate tax rates from 30 per cent to 25 per cent and also promised to phase out exemptions steadily.

Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das was optimistic that the Rs 7.98 lakh crore direct collection target for the current fiscal would be achievable. He said it was realistic too. On GST, Jaitley said the process of introduction of GST was on. “A lot of work has been done, a lot of work remains to be done and we have only few months to accomplish the task," he said.

Rajya Sabha recently referred the GST Bill to a select committee which is expected to give its report to the House at the start of Monsoon session in July.