Take steps to unearth domestic black money: Govt to I-T dept

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 25

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has asked the senior officers of the Income Tax Department to be prompt in redressing the grievances of taxpayers, expand the tax base in a non-intrusive manner even as they strive to achieve the revenue generation targets.

He said the honest taxpayers should not be afraid of the Black Money Bill recently passed by Parliament as it is targeted against those who have stalked their illegal assets abroad.

He said parallel economy has to be squeezed in a free and transparent manner. “The parallel economy has to be squeezed. And it has to be done in very fair manner, not in a harsh manner. In doing so, as senior officers you have to maintain the highest standard of integrity,” he said while addressing a conference of top officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

The government, the minister said, has taken a host of measures to curb the menace of black money. These include passage of the black money law by Parliament and introduction of Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill to deal with unaccounted domestic wealth.

He further said improvement in tax collection will increase the ability of the government to step up spending on social and infrastructure projects and provide relief to individual taxpayers.

He said the policy of the government is that nobody should be harassed and the evaders should not succeed.

For the current financial year, the minister said, direct tax collection was likely to improve by 14-15% and there was possibility of government improving upon the fiscal deficit target of 3.9%.

However, he added that the government would prefer to increase expenditure on social sector schemes instead of improving its fiscal deficit target.

On the new black money law, which seeks to bring back the illicit funds stashed abroad, Jaitley said, “No honest taxpayer has anything to fear. It’s targeted only against those who have stashed assets abroad.”

He said the department will come out with its policy that those who have wealth outside were being given a compliance window on taxation which have been imposed on the assets outside. “Black money has to be squeezed”, he said, adding only those who have defied the system in the past and intend to defy the compliance window to come clean have to worry.

The government has asked the I-T department to take steps to unearth domestic black money while keeping close watch on ponzi schemes, bogus IPOs and other illegal means of raising money.