Three-fold rise in IT revenue from State

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JULY 30. The Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Mr. A. Balasubramanian, said a substantial growth rate of about 27 per cent was registered in the revenue collected by way of income tax in the country during the past three years.

While the target set for the current financial year was a whopping Rs. 72,000 crores, last year's target was pegged at Rs. 56,000 crores.

The number of Income tax payers in the country too had increased substantially. Their number was put at a staggering 23 million as on March 31, 2000. "Though they account for hardly 2-3 per cent of the country's population, the number is encouraging. There is greater tax compliance than ever before," he affirmed.

Speaking after giving away the maiden "Samman" awards for the financial year 1997-98 to "honest and diligent" tax payers from the Andhra Pradesh region, he said there were many potential tax payers "who were not paying to the extent they should." He exuded confidence that they would also fall in line in the next two to three years in the changed taxation environment.

Mr. Balasubramanian attributed the upward swing in IT revenue to the "conscious change in the working and methodology of the tax system in the country." He said: "It is not the taxes alone that were simplified, but also the procedures." He underlined the need for mutual trust between tax payers and assessors.

In the Andhra Pradesh region alone, there was a three-fold rise in the Income tax revenue during the past five years. A revenue of Rs. 1,808 crores was collected from tax payers in the year 1999-2000, against the target of Rs. 1,816 crores, a shortfall of less than three per cent.

In the financial year 1998-99, a revenue of Rs. 1,367 crores was collected, against the projected Rs. 1,590 crores, the Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Andhra Pradesh, Mr. C.V.Padmanabhan, said.

The target fixed for the current financial year was Rs. 2,544 crores, of which Rs. 516 crores were already collected as on July 21. Of this, Income Tax revenue accounted for Rs. 293 crores while the share of the corporate tax category was to the tune of Rs. 221 crores.

Mr. Padmanabhan said the "Samman" awards were introduced to inculcate a culture of social recognition for honest tax payers who were contributing their mite to the national cause. "We are looking at participatory tax administration and stopped administering it like policemen," he remarked.

The awardees were Messrs. G.J. Gianchandani, Kiran B. Gandhi, P. Atchutharamaiah, P. Narendranath, P. Krishna, A. Venkateswara Rao, R. Krishna Murthy, Capt. K.F. Pestonji, A. Nagarjuna Rao, K. Satish Reddy, B. Ch. V. Subba Rao, K. Gopal and Dr. E.G. Mahadevan.

The `samman' recipients would be provided with incentives such as IT clearance certificate for registration of properties, obtaining of contracts or travelling abroad for a period of three years. Their tax assessments would not be subjected to scrutiny for a period of three years except under special circumstances.

Their applications for rectification of mistakes/appeal etc., would be disposed of on a priority basis within a fortnight and representation to select recipients in tax advisory committees at the level of Administrative Commissioner, Income Tax.

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Section  : Southern States
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