“Expand tax base, but don’t be intrusive” FM tells Income-Tax officers

An I-T officer receiving a commendation certificate from FM 

ON MONDAY morning, the Income Tax department organized a Marathon at Noida which is at the outskirts of Delhi. The reason? The department was celebrating 157th Income Tax Day and called the Marathon a “run for nation”, mainly to create awareness about tax returns. Later on the day, finance minister Arun Jaitley addressed the I-T officers. Here are the five advices from the FM to his officers:

1. FM said, the current government has set up an internationally competitive tax regime with a stable policy and a non-adversarial tax administration. 

2. He exhorted the Income-Tax officers to be prompt in redressing the grievances of the tax payers.

3. FM also asked the I-T officers to expand the tax base in a non-intrusive manner even as they strive to achieve the revenue generation targets. 

4. He said the mindset of the people was gradually changing as they wanted no one should be exempt from tax. 

5. FM said that privacy cannot be made an excuse for non-compliance. The statement was made in the backdrop of the current controversy arising out of the I-T department’s move to link the taxpayers' returns with Aadhaar when activists have been claiming it as an intrusion into citizens' privacy.