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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asked taxmen to double the taxpayer base (for income-tax) to 10 crore and build a “bridge of trust” ( vishwas ke sethu ) with the people so that tax collection targets could be achieved without coercion.
In the first such instance of a Prime Minister addressing top tax administrators directly, Modi identified five pillars — revenue, accountability, probity, information and digitisation (RAPID) — that would help improve efficiency of the tax administration.
Taxmen as ‘mentors’ Inaugurating the two-day ‘Rajasva Gyan Sangam’, an annual conference for tax administrators, Modi wanted taxmen to adopt a “soft and sober” approach with the citizenry and remove the fear of harassment in their minds.
Tax officers should behave like “mentors” and not treat all taxpayers as evaders, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia later quoted Modi as saying.
Adhia said Modi had conveyed to taxmen that the people of India are inherently honest and that they need to be supported with easier procedures for tax compliance.
“If you (tax department) build trust, people will contribute to nation-building and pay their taxes, and you will be able to achieve the target,” Modi said.
To buttress this point, the Prime Minister cited the case of nearly one crore Indians voluntarily giving up their LPG subsidies.
As many as 15 officers from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) interacted with the Prime Minister on various issues faced by them in their regular work, Adhia said. Briefing newspersons on the Prime Minister’s address to tax administrators, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, said the five pillars of RAPID would serve as a guideline for the taxmen.
Sinha said the Prime Minister felt that ramping up the taxpayer base to 10 crore is feasible, given that India had nearly 25 crore households.
Even if one were to exclude 15 crore households engaged in some form of agricultural activity, it should be possible to widen the taxpayer base to the level desired by the Prime Minister, he said. Sinha also clarified that no timeline has been set for achieving the 10 crore taxpayer base.
Officers’ suggestion Describing the Prime Minister’s address as “motivating” to tax administrators, Adhia said that tax officers made several suggestions.
One tax officer suggested that India should look at enacting a ‘Tax Facilitation Act’ at the Central level, he said.
The Revenue Secretary also said that the current dilemma among tax officers on whether to give priority to “tax enforcement” or “taxpayer-friendly measures” was also conveyed to the Prime Minister during the interaction.
Sinha said the taxmen were advised not to have any trade-off between tax enforcement and implementing taxpayer-friendly measures.
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