'Unearthing black money key to solving many ills plaguing nation'

Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Mangaluru, Narottam Mishra on Saturday asserted that challenges on many fronts could be addressed in an effective manner even if a part of the black money stashed in the country is unearthed.

At a national conference on ‘Pay India - Emerging Tax Reforms and Implications’ organised by the Department of Commerce, University Evening College here, Mishra quoted from a recent book on black money authored by Prof Arun Kumar from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi and  62% (Rs 93 lakh crore) of Rs 156 lakh crore gross domestic product (GDP) in the current fiscal is black income, evading tax net. If a portion of such stashed income is tapped into, the problems, like poverty and others still plaguing the country, could be addressed to an extent. Revenue generated from tax forms the major chunk of revenue to the government in taking up its programmes, he added.

‘Tax avoiders many’
While salaried classes promptly pay tax, there is an alarming number of people, non-salaried class, who continue to avoid paying income tax, he said.

Elaborating on the measures being taken to widen the tax base, Mishra delved on two ways - maximisation of tax compliance by ensuring responsive administration and enforcement of law to detect tax evaders.

While in the case of responsive administration, the system incorporated in the country is in tune with the best of the world, with Rs 1.4 lakh crore refund settled online. In the wake of digitisation, the grievance redressal mechanism has reached a notch higher with the prime minister’s office (PMO) directly monitoring it on a daily basis, he said.
Sounding tough on tax evaders, Mishra said they will surely face music as a data bank of assessees is being created, keeping a tab on PAN based transactions. The income tax department is creating awareness at school level too as students are considered as future tax payers, he added.

Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Intelligence and Coordination), Bengaluru, Y C Shivakumar said GST appears to be a game changer with existing  GDP rate of 6% poised to grow in the range of 1.5% to 2% reaching the level of 7% to 8%. Both the Union and the state governments would be benefitted with the implementation of GST.