NEW DELHI: Finance minister P Chidambaram has said that the government will continue with its effort to recover tax arrears and bring more people into the tax net.
"Between January and March...we issued notices, after mining the data, and thanks to the advertising campaign, I have added 50 lakh more taxpayers into the tax net," Chidambaram said during the debate on the Finance Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. "We would like to do the same thing in 2013-14 and we will add many more (into the tax net)." Rajya Sabha returned the Finance Bill and other Bills to the Lok Sabha, completing the exercise for the Union
Budget and the Railway Budget, even as Opposition decided to walk out.
"It is a shame that only 42,800 people in this country admit to have an income of over one crore," Chidambaram told the House. "Maybe, there is a larger number in south Delhi alone. The attempt is to bring them into the tax net," the minister said, adding that he hopes to add lakhs more to the tax net in 2013-14 through the same strategy. In the January-March quarter, tax authorities had sent reminders to 1.05 lakh persons selected through extensive data mining.
Chidambaram's campaign to catch tax evaders using IT tools helped him achieve the downwardly revised but steep revenue target. The minister had slashed the gross tax collection target for 2012-13 by about Rs40,000 crore to Rs10.38 lakh crore.
He admitted that the income tax department faced time and resource limitations, but informed the House that they were being addressed. Chidambaram said the country was faced with important issues like fiscal deficit and capital flow, and the political class needed to come together to address them.
"We have political differences, but can we not agree that the economy of the country is beyond political differences? Can we not take a bipartisan approach to basic economic issues, on issues of fiscal prudence, on issues of balancing a Budget, on issues of investment, savings, growth rate, inclusive development?" Chidambaram said.
The government is struggling to get crucial legislation passed in parliament because of the Opposition's boycott over the coal scam and interference in the functioning of the CBI. "All of us want India to grow at a rapid pace," Chidambaram said.
When asked about the delay in liquidation of tax arrears, he said, "Tax matter, like any other matter, travels through three or four levels of adjudication and takes many many years."
"There are some arrears that are purely notional. For example, in the Harshad Mehta case, there are tax arrears running into lakhs of crores...", the minister said, adding that there was no one to pay those taxes as Harshad Mehta was not even alive.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com