Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked taxmen to emulate the successful example of “Give it up” initiative on LPG subsidy for increasing tax base.
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Prime Minister also suggested tax officials should focus on simplification so the two-day brainstorming sessions could lead to better outcome with regard to tax payer services.
The prime minister said this while interacting with senior tax officials after inaugurating a two-day “Rajasva Gyan Sangam”, an annual conference of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).
During the interaction, Modi said if someone Googles “how to pay taxes in India”, there will be seven crore results.
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Briefing mediapersons on the Prime Minister’s address to tax administrators, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, said that these 5-pillars would act as guidance for the taxmen in the coming days.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked tax officials to knock on the doors of people whose income statements don’t reflect the size or grandeur of their property, but they must do so in a gentle and friendly manner, a top government official said on Thursday.
Adhia also highlighted that the Prime Minister had pointed out that India was a country with aspiring people and that tax departments had to support the aspirations of the people. “Don’t presume that everyone is tax evader”, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia quoted Modi as saying in the conference. The tax departments need to build bridges with people to meet targets.
Modi in his speech said 92 per cent of tax department revenue comes from TDS, advance tax and self assessment tax, while the remaining 8 per cent comes after scrutiny.
At the same time, he asked tax officers to be soft and sober in their approach and not treat everyone as tax evaders.
Highlighting that countrymen were not dishonest, Modi had cited the case of almost 1 crore people voluntarily giving up subsidy entitlements on LPG cylinders, Adhia said.
Taxes will automatically be paid if the administration is friendly, he said, adding it will also help in removing black money.
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Such cold calls by taxmen are part of several suggestions Modi made at a conference of revenue officials, where the Prime Minister also set a target of doubling the country’s taxpayer base to 100 million.
