Squeeze parallel economy in a fair manner: Arun Jaitely to taxmen

New Delhi Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today asked taxmen to squeeze the parallel economy but gave anassurance that while doing so honest taxpayers may have nothing to fear about the new black money lawThe parallel economy has to be squeezedand 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 CBDTFinance Minister Arun Jaitley Photo AFPOn the new black money law which seeks to bring back the illicit funds stashed abroad Jaitley said No honesttaxpayer has anything to fear Its targeted only against those who have stashed assets abroadThe minister further told the tax officers Every well meaning advisor will tell you tax base has to be expandedBlack money has to be squeezed out and at the same time if you take steps to do that you have to listen to the taunt of draconian steps which are being takenThe government the minister said has taken a host of measures to curb the menace of black money These includepassage of the black money law by Parliament and introduction of Benami Transactions Prohibition bill to deal withthe unaccounted domestic wealthBlack money has to be squeezed he said adding only those who have defied the system in the past and intend todefy the compliance window to come clean have to worryJaitley further said that improvement in tax collection will increase the ability of the government to step upspending on social and infrastructure projects and provide relief to individual taxpayersFor the current financial year the minister said direct tax collection was likely to improve by 1415 per cent andthere was possibility of government improving upon the fiscal deficit target of 39 per centHowever he added that the government would prefer to increase expenditure on social sector schemes instead ofimproving its fiscal deficit targetThe objective is not to better fiscal deficit number he said adding we want to increase expenditure becauseincreased expenditure leads to growthWe would like larger revenue collections to be invested in areas of infrastructure irrigation in the social sectors to bring larger dividends back to the economyAs regards black money the Finance Minister said that several steps have been announced and the government would come out with more measures in future to squeeze the quantum of illicit wealthThere are steps which have been announced and some may be announced in future with regard to squeezing quantum of black moneyIf the base increases collection increases and those who have to pay taxation are compelled to pay it the ability of government to give concession in terms of rates to honest tax payers also increases he addedObserving that there are no grey areas in taxation the Finance Minister said Either a tax is payable or its notpayable If its not payble no attempt has to be made to recover it but if it is payable then there is no scope for any other collateral consideration why it must not be recovered for the governmentThe policy has to be crystal clear that nobody should be harassed but the evader must not succeed he said addingwithin the parameters of the policy we continue to do our joba very unenviable jobGovernment Jaitley said has already taken various initiatives on the taxation front which include roll out ofthe Goods and Services Tax GST reduction of corporate tax rate from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over the next four years and removal of exemptions to the extent possibleAs regards indirect taxes Jaitley said The process of introduction of GST is on A lot of work has been done a lot of work remains to be done and we have only few months to accomplish the taskRajya Sabha recently referred the GST Bill to a select committee which is expected to give its report to the House atthe start of the next session The government plans to roll out the GST from April 1 2016On direct tax front Jaitley said Our effort over the next four years will be to bring down the taxation to globallevels and phase out the exemptions to the extent it is possibleEfforts would also be made to expand the tax base and encourage nonfilers to file tax returns he said and addedthat individual taxpayers would continue to enjoy certain set of exemptions so that they could spend more and add to the economic growthWe are also trying to ensure that segments need a certain sets of exemptions so that we can encourage them to spend more We should all be conscious of fact that even when we talk of expansion of the base there are inbuiltlimitations he saidIf 5560 per cent of India lives on agriculture thats the number of families which are out of tax base there are several initiatives which we have taken Every advisor will tell you tax base has to be expandedI do understand that the CBDT is also working on simplification in many areas including the forms which will bea great asset to the taxpayer itself the minister said Earlier Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the Rs798 lakh crore direct collection target for the current fiscal is very much achievable and very realisticWith regard to HSBC list on alleged black money holders abroad he said all the assessment that had to be completed before March 31 2015 have been completed