FM pats Income Tax officers
Yesterday the Finance minister had a videoconference with his Chief Commissioner of Income Tax and complimented them for the remarkable performance of the Income Tax department, particularly on the revenue side. The Finance Minister stated that the department had done well in collecting higher revenues in 2006-07 and was performing even better in 2007-08. Total direct tax collections were up 42.8 percent as in December 2007, while collection of personal income tax was even higher. For this, the Finance Minister said, the government owed a debt of gratitude to the employees of the Income Tax department for their hard work to boost revenue collection.
A ccording to the FM, a number of factors were responsible for the unprecedented growth in revenue collection –
1. moderate tax rates;
2. change in taxpayer behaviour towards better compliance with tax laws; and
3. a technology driven tax department which ha d become more taxpayer friendly.
While the tax collection mechanism had become more technology driven and, therefore, non-discriminatory and more transparent, the department needed to become more friendly towards the bulk of taxpayers who were voluntarily complying with the tax laws and tough on the miniscule minority of recalcitrant taxpayers.
The Finance Minister said that he had sanctioned an incentive of Rs.195 crore to enable the department to improve infrastructure for increasing its operational efficiency by providing for more vehicles and telephones but the department needed to further improve basic facilities for taxpayers, who were customers of the department, such as potable water and clean toilets. The Finance Minister said that a larger amount would be sanctioned as incentive for increased revenue collection in the current year and the department would need to find still better ways and means to utilize these amounts for a lasting impact on its functioning.
Any similar talk with Customs, Excise and Service Tax?