Linguistic Hyperboles in Tax Laws?
ADDRESSING the PHD Chamber of Commerce recently, the CBDT Member Anita Kapur is reported to have said,
++ The government should draft the tax laws in a manner so that their intent comes out more forcefully and plug possibilities of misinterpretation of laws to benefit vested interests as also prevent chances for dragging the interpretation of laws to courts and tribunals.
++ The intent of the laws particularly those of tax laws in modern times matter much more and acquire significance for developing nations like India that is attempting to woo cross border investments to revive its economy for growth, manufacturing, creating demand and host of other such things so that interpretation of the laws are not misinterpreted time and again on account of linguistic hyperboles which are filled in Indian statutes law.
++ When the intent in the laws exhibit its meaning and becomes more visible and pronounced, its misinterpretation is prevented to enable the country earn large volumes of revenues and stop enterprises evade and delay payment of taxes and refuge it to take the legal recourses to further delay and avoid the tax payments.
++ The attempt of the government should be to draft laws that can be condensed and compressed in thinner volumes of the statutes as practised in economies of scale especially that of United Kingdom which is known worldwide for drafting its GAAR laws.
Is the Government listening?