New Delhi:
As growth slows down in India and revenues dry up, the government is increasingly looking at unexplained cash seizures to fund its developmental schemes. And at such a time, the Central Board of Direct Taxes is planning to approach the Finance Ministry for more secret funds to track down black money with the help of informers.
The Income Tax department currently has about Rs 15 crore to pay informants which works out to just about Rs 400 per case of scrutiny. Given the extent of tax evasion, that's hardly rewarding, say officials.
They want it increased to Rs 40 crore which will raise the limit to about Rs 2 lakh per Additional Commissioner.
And the Income Tax department appears to have built a strong case. It claims an additional use of secret fund of about Rs 4 crore during the state elections of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Pondicherry, Kerala and Assam this year led to cash seizures of about Rs 31 crore. These slush funds were meant to buy voters. Also, the department claims that it couldn't work on information on cash movements during the elections because it was unable to buy information.
Similarly, the department claimed that information on alleged black money being parked in realty also couldn't be worked out completely because informants wanted more money in return
But will the Finance Minister agree, especially after the controversy surrounding Radia tapes when there was clamour to curtail the powers of the Income Tax department.
Enforcement and intelligence agencies depend as much as on pain staking tedious desk work as it depends on being able to win over disgruntled people to part with information, and money plays a key role in it. But a key question remains: Is the government ready to further strengthen its tax collection wings?