Modi-fied Tax Administration
IN a few days the new Government will be in place and we will have a new Finance Minister. Will he be a technocrat or a politician? Whoever he is, he has a tough job ahead and expectations are very high. Arun Jaitley who wanted the income tax exemption limit to be Rs.5 lakhs, lost his election. He can claim that people did not want that exemption.
BJP is said to be pro-business and if that is true, there are several reforms which are urgently needed in the tax sector. Draconian provisions of arrest, attachment, pre-deposit of insane amounts of illegally confirmed demands, frivolous and unwanted litigation - need changes.
The PM Designate talks a lot about Small Scale Industries - perhaps they need a steep hike in the excise exemption limit.
The outgoing FM is said to have left tons of pebbles of wisdom in the files of North Block for the benefit of his successor. His Magnum Opus - the Direct Taxes Code is also slowly gathering dust in the North Block. The Finance Minister may also have to try to revive the almost dead GST or announce its permanent death.