Narendra Modi asks officials to double taxpayer base

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asked tax officials to double the taxpayer base in the country and told them to put the fear of the law in the hearts of  tax evaders but be “soft and sober” with those who pay their taxes.

“There should be respect for the law among all citizens, and even fear of the long arm of the law for those who evade taxes,” Mr Modi said in his address to the inaugural session of tax administrators here, titled Rajasva Gyan Sangam (Knowledge Conference on Revenue).

He outlined a five-point charter for tax administrators with the acronym RAPID: R for revenue, A for accountability, P for probity, I for information and D for digitisation.

However, he stressed the need for tax administrators to engender trust in the system. Citing the example of the “Give it Up” initiative for people to voluntarily surrender their LPG gas subsidy, he said the tax base too can be increased significantly provided tax administrators can demonstrate the leadership to bring about change.

“People within the country are not dishonest. People have no problem in paying taxes, but somewhere they have some problem. Understand that problem and try to remove it,” he said. He asked the officials to build a “bridge of trust” in order to achieve tax collection targets without coercion.