PM Modi tells taxmen to realise tax demand

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked tax officials to not just raise tax demands but ensure it is also realised as honest taxpayers shouldn’t pay for misdeeds of the dishonest. Mr Modi asked the tax officials to use data analytics to track undeclared wealth and fix clear targets for improving tax administration by 2022. Inaugurating the second edition of the ‘Rajaswa Gyan Sangam’ — the joint conference of direct and indirect tax officials — Mr Modi expressed his dismay at the huge pendency of tax-related cases in adjudication and appeal. 

He said big sums of money that is locked up in these cases, could have been used for the welfare of the poor. He asked officers to come up with an action plan during the Rajasva Gyan Sangam, to eliminate pendency.   The Prime Minister asked officers to use data analytical tools to proactively track and determine undeclared income and wealth.  He said that though efforts to increase tax revenue are made by officers each year, the estimated amounts of tax that should accrue to the system, are often not realised. 

Mr Modi asked officers to come up with a time-bound solution to ‘tax raised and not realised’, and asserted that the honest shouldn’t continue to pay the price for the misdeeds of the dishonest.  In this regard, the Prime Minister also suggested a complete rework of the human resource management in the tax departments to strengthen the data analytics and investigation wing. He exhorted the officers to improve their work-culture, to incorporate both a “sense of urgency”, and “measurability”, in their performance. Mr Modi asked the officers to fix clear targets to improve the tax administration by 2022. He said that the government is working towards creation of an environment which shatters the confidence of the corrupt, and instills confidence and among the honest taxpayer.