Where taxpayers are full of fear

 Where taxpayers are full of fear

By Gopal K Agarwal,

India had draconian tax laws which harassed honest taxpayers Compliance was difficult. Non-compliance was at a premium and led to generation of black money, which was not available for investment and economic development. There was a growing understanding that if the government has to increase tax collection, more people have to be brought under the tax net.

Government recognised that this requires simplified and ra- tionalised procedures Laws must be made less draconian. the tax department friendly to the assessee. Successive budgets were moving in this direction. The NDA government set up the Kelkar Committee on tax reforms. The widespread discussion on its recommendations helped in creating a positive environment.

The government has to work with the premise that citizens are honest and law-abiding, any action against them can be taken only when proved guilty. This is a basic law of jurisprudence and will have to be adhered to, or the re is a danger that the country will see a rise of state terrorism, wh ich will justify all action under the guise of enforcing compliance.

Certain provisions in the recent budget amount to state terrorism. The finance minister is creating an extremely unhealthy environment for taxpayers. He has been directing tax officials to ensure increased tax revenues. They have been given targets.

These targets are passed down the line. The officials work out a collection strategy and identify parties from whom mobilisation can be done. The income tax of officer is revenue-minded and makes an addition to a taxpayer's account in order to meet his mobilisation target. The Commissioner of Income Tax, Appeals, is revenue-minded and upholds orders passed by the income tax officers.

The taxpayer approaches the judiciary. The nightmare gets worse when the finance minister wants to influence the judiciary so that it does not grant any relief. Taxpayers are informed that an addition is being made to their income and unless they pay up, their assets will be attached. If they protest they are told that they can go in for appeal to have the additions reversed and have their assets released. The situation is tailor-made for extortion Further, the FM has directed the tax department to resort to harsh measures like surveys and raids. The victim pays a huge amount of money to be allowed to carry on with his life and business. Laws like informing the tax department of any purchases above Rs 50,000 can only lead to harassment of the general public. It is not just applicable to single transactions but to the aggregate amount. Even assesses who will pay no tax will be included, the report will have to be in a computer-readable form, and figures relating to the beginning of the financial year would have to be furnished.

TDS was to be implemented when the tax information network was complete. People were to be protected from the hassle of seeking TDS certificates by having TDS deductions reported directly to tax authorities and entered into a central database. Each taxpayer would have access to the database through a Permanent Account Number (PAN) identification and password. The database is nowhere in sight, but the budget has gone and changed the TDS reporting requirement. Amendments to section 203 and Section 203 AA say that TDS details should now be sent to the income tax authority or a person authorised by it and no certificate is required to be issued to the person whose tax is deducted. This means that people whose tax is compulsorily deducted will not even have a piece of paper to prove their tax payment. And they will be at the mercy of income tax officials to get TDS certificates.

A new section, 277A, has been introduced in the Income Tax Act, where the assessing officer for the purpose of filing a complaint of prosecution u/s 277A, has to simply record the intention of the third party to abet the tax evasion and not to substantiate his charges. The explanation to the proposed section provides it shall be sufficient in any charge to allege the general intent to enable such other person to evade any tax, penalty or interest.

Explaining the concept of tax on securities' transactions, FM said in his budget speech that it is to simplify the taxation of capital gains. The new proposals are neither simple nor revenue yielding. To keep track of such transactions and ensure that the tax payable is correctly worked out and paid would be an uphill task. The objective of generating more money for the government would be frustrated.

Service tax is in the form of double taxation and has a cascading effect. It is successively being increased without relief in the direct income tax. The government will have to make laws simple, non-draconian and introduce checks on the income tax officials. The only way India can be a true welfare state is by providing economic freedom to its citizens. Else, all the rhetoric about the government being a welfare state is merely lip service.

(The writer is a member BJP's Central Economic Cell)

Tax as state terrorism

 Tax as state terrorism

By Gopal K Agarwal,

Certain announcements and provisions in the recent budget by the Finance Minister amount to state terrorism. The FM is creating an extremely unfortunate and unhealthy environment for taxpayers.

India had draconian tax laws, which harassed honest payers. Compliance tax was extremely difficult. Persons came into the tax net either through salary income or voluntarily, for their zeal to be law-abiding citizens. Non- compliance was at a premium and led to generation of black money, which was used in wasteful expenditure and was not available for investment and economic development of the country. There was a growing understanding in the government that if the government has to increase tax collection, then more and more people have to be brought under the tax net. Merely increasing tax rate was becoming counterproductive to the economic development of the country and was harming entrepreneurship.

The government recognised that this will require simplified and rationalised procedures and laws are to be made less draconian with the spirit of dealing with honest citizens. The tax department has to be made friendly to the assessee. Successive budgets were moving toward this direction.

The previous NDA government set up the Kelkar Committee to give report on tax reforms and the widespread discussion on its recommendations helped in creating a positive environment.

The government has to work with the premise that citizens of the country are honest and law-abiding and any action against them can be taken only when proved guilty. This is a basic law of jurisprudence and will have to be adhered to at any cost, otherwise there is every danger that the country will see rise of dictatorship and state terrorism, which will justify all its actions under the guise of enforcing compliance. There are four pillars of democracy and each has a role to play, there cannot be any overlap in their roles. Recently, there has been a growing tendency in the bureaucracy, which is involved in the formulation of various laws to take upon themselves and assume judicial powers. In India the judiciary has always upheld the constitutional rights of the citizen. Indian judiciary has exercised control over politicians and bureaucrats. This is required for balancing the power structure of the country, otherwise the nexus between the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats will leave little space for the people to lead a peaceful and a dignified life. Judiciary derives its power from the laws of the land. The laws should be equitable and fair to all, without giving undue powers to government officials. There has to be a counter-check so that these laws are not misused by corrupt or overzealous officials.

Certain announcements and provisions in the recent budget by the Finance Minister (FM) amount to state terrorism. The FM is creating an extremely unfortunate and unhealthy environment for taxpayers. In his meetings with tax officials, he has been directing them to ensure increased tax revenues. They have been given targets. These targets are passed down the line. The officials work out a collection strategy and identify parties from whom mobilisation can be done The Income-tax Officer is revenue-minded and he makes an addition to a taxpayer's account in order to meet his mobilisation target. The Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) is also revenue-minded and he upholds the orders passed by the Income-tax Officers. A taxpayer approaches the judiciary. The nightmare gets worse when the Finance Minister wants to influence the judiciary so that it does not grant any relief and if any relief exists, then vacate them. Tax-payers are informed that an addition is being made to their income and unless they pay up, their assets will be attached. If they protest, they are told that they can go in for appeal to have the additions reversed and have their assets released. The situation is tailor-made for extortion.

Further, he has directed the Tax Department to resort to harsh measures like surveys and raids to increase compliance. The raid can sometimes last for days, and by the end of it, when the victim is finally broken down with humiliation, sleep deprivation and other terror tactics, the head of the raiding party usually comes forward with a "deal". The victim pays a huge amount of money-depending on how much he has to be allowed to carry on with his life and business without being harassed daily by the Income Tax Department.

It is an open fact that the Income-tax Department of our country is one of the most corrupt departments of the government. The corruption in this department affects the life of a common man to a great extent as it involves public dealings. If these corrupt government officials are given draconian powers it will only lead to harassment of the ordinary citizens and may be misused by some of these officials to extract money.

Several other laws like informing about any purchases above Rs 50.000 to the Tax Department u/s 285BA, can only lead to harassment of the general public. It is leading to several Certain announcements and provisions in the recent budget by the Finance Minister amount to state terrorism. The FM is creating an extremely unfortunate and unhealthy environment for taxpayers. complications as it is not just applicable to single transactions, but to the aggregate amount, it could apply to aggregate of all transactions under five separate heads, it could include even the total household expenditure if it exceeds Rs 50,000 a year, even assessess who will pay no tax will be included The report will have to be in a coraputer-readable form and figures relating to the beginning of the financial year would also have to be compiled and furnished.

TDS had to be implemented when the tax information network was complete People were to be protected from the hassle of seeking TDS certificates by having TDS deductions reported directly to the tax authorities and entered into a central database. Each taxpayer would have access to the database through a Permanent Account Number (PAN) identification and password. The database is nowhere in sight, but the Budget has gone and changed the TDS reporting requirement. Amendments to Section 203 and Section 203 AA says that TDS details should now be sent to the income-tax authority or a person authorised by it (NSDL) and no certificate is required to be issued to the person whose tax is deducted This means that people whose tax is compulsorily deducted will not even have a piece of paper to prove their tax payment Worse, they will be at the mercy of income-tax officials to get TDS certificates.

A new Section 277A has been introduced in the Income tax Act, where the assessing officer for the purpose of filing a compliant of prosecution u/s 277A, has to simply record the intention of the third party to abet the tax evasion and not to explain or substantiate his charges The concept of mens-ria is completely missing. The explanation to the proposed Section 277A provides that it shall be sufficient in any change (without specifying any particular instance or sum of tas penalty or interest which has been or would have been evaded by such other person) to allege the general intent to enable such other person to evade any tax, penalty or interest The Section provides punishment with rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than three months but which may be extended to three years and with a fine imposed.

Explaining the concept of tax on securities transactions the Finance Minister said in his budget speech that it is being done to simplify the taxation of capital gains The new proposals are neither simple nor revenue-yielding. To keep track of such transactions and ensure that the tax payable is correctly worked out and paid would be an uphill task. Further, the changes would mean substantially lower revenue for the government, and thus, the objective of generating more money for the government would be frustrated. The issue is whether the complicated exercise prescribed by the government is worthwhile. The scheme, which was intended to simplify the taxation of capital gains, has ended up being highly complicated, and has laid down multiple and complicated slabs which will be very difficult to implement and monitor. It is very surprising that no empirical studies were made before announcing the changes on the impact of the tax and on different segments of market players.

Service tax is in the form of double taxation and has a cascading effect. It is successively being increased without relief in the direct income tax. The government will have to sincerely sort out many of these complications and it has to make the laws simple, non-Draconian and conduct counter checks on the actions of income-tax officials

The only way India can be a true welfare State is by providing economic freedom to its citizens, otherwise all rhetoric about the government being a welfare State are merely lip service.

The author is member of BJP Central Economic Cell

Chidambaram and his Package of Contractions

 Chidambaram and his Package of Contradictions

By Gopal K Agarwal,

The internal contradiction in the present government due to differences in the economic thinking of the Congress and the Left does not leave any room for economic innovation. This is coming out very clearly in the criticism of the Budget by the Left Front.

In the Budget speech of the Finance Minister there is lot of lip service to rural development but there are no concrete provisions or announcement of policies. Almost all the policies of the NDA government are being continued. Instead of giving support to the small-scale sector, 85 items have been dereserved. Secondly, he has spoken a lot on education and has imposed a cess of 2 per cent across the board on all taxes, but it has not been clarified or spelled out as to how this fund will be spent and will this amount be in addition to the amounts earlier being earmarked for education in the Budget? In our bureaucratic set-up, implementation has always been the problem. If the government does not specify as to how the benefit will be delivered to the actual ultimate beneficiary, all the well intentions will not bear results. If all these funds are left to the states to be utilised then it will be a big failure. Our states have poor infrastructure and corruption being widely prevalent, many of the allocated funds to states are not being properly and fully utilised.

Thirdly, the FM has announced that a consortium of private banks will give loans to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore for infrastructure development. This kind of announcement regarding intentions of the private banks has no meaning as these will be commercial decisions and its credit cannot be taken in the Budget.

Fourthly, the announcement in the field of water conservation that wells, talabs, etc., will be repaired and renovated is also an eyewash as this will be done over a period of ten years and that too without any fund allocation. To meet his revenue requirements, the FM has stated that there will be a 40 per cent increase in revenue collection from corporate sector only, without there being any increase in tax rates. He plans to achieve this through greater and stricter compliance of tax laws which is highly unrealistic and impractical.

After criticising so much on the disinvestment policy of the NDA, he is continuing with the disinvestment of NTPC, a profit- making company, and has also announced setting up of a Disinvestment Commission.

The Left Front's rhetoric of opposing FDI in strategic sectors has been given a raw deal by announcing increase in FDI in all the three strategic sectors of telecommunication, aviation and insurance. Telecommunication is one sector in which even USA does not allow majority holding to foreign investments. Even NDA government was reluctant to increase this limit

The major announcement of tax concession in the direct tax on the taxable income up to Rs one lakh is a more of a confusion and a complete eyewash. It would have been much better if instead of this, the basic exemption limit of Rs 50,000 had been increased. This will create resentment in anybody having even slightly higher taxable Income than Rs 1,00,000.

The increase in service tax by 25 per cent of the earlier level (8 per cent to 10 per cent) will also have inflationary effect. Service tax has a cascading effect and the government needs to control inflation to control fiscal deficit, which is already showing signs of increase. Further, the increase in the excise tax on steel will also be inflationary as this is a basic metal and will harm housing sector also.

The imposition of unreasonable transaction tax on all transactions is a big blow to the securities market. The government has not applied its mind as to whether this can be absorbed or will it completely kill the capital and bond market? Levying transaction tax is bad, as firstly, all transactions do not lead to profit, secondly, 80 per cent of the stock market turnover is either arbitrage business or jobbing transactions at a very meagre price difference of as low as five paisa This will lead to a complete erosion of liquidity in the market which is very essential for recovery reducing impact cost (ie. the effect of bulk purchase order on the price of a scrip). Even without this step, the market was very nervous on the policies of the UPA government and the influence of Left parties thinking on the economic policies.

The low interest regime of the NDA government which was a major factor facilitating industrial development and the housing sector, etc., is showing a sign of reversal as the interest rates are firming up. If this government does not take major initiatives, which are missing in the Budget, then we may see a major reversal in our country's economy.

(The writer is National Convener, BJP Economic Cell.)