PM Modi Urges Officials To Bring 10 Crore People Into Tax Net

"People are ready to pay taxes. But there is lack of trust. The tax departments need to build bridges with people to meet targets. We need to remove fear of the tax departments." This is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi told tax officials today at the "Rajasva Gyan Sangam" or revenue knowledge meet, in New Delhi. 

In the first-ever address by a Prime Minister at a meet of tax collectors, PM Modi also had some tough words to offer. "In India 92 per cent of tax is collected through the automatic route, 42,000 tax officials are engaged in collection of 8 per cent of tax. There are 5.4 crore tax payers.  Take that to 10 crore," PM Modi told tax officials. 

This is the first-time ever a meet for tax collectors from two revenue collection arms of the government - Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board for Excise and Customs (CBEC) has been organised to set the tone for a new tax regime. A total 250 income tax officers and 170 from the excise and customs attended the meet.  

PM Modi asked the tax officials to remove fear of harassment from the minds of taxpayers and focus on five pillars of administration - revenue, accountability, probity, information and digitisation (RAPID).

"People don't generally don't want to avoid tax paying but there are compliance issues. Remove these problems," PM Modi said. 

The Prime Minister asked the two departments to implement policies which are taxpayer friendly. Emphasising on the need for ease of tax paying, PM Modi said that the two departments should undergo rapid digitisation to meet their targets. 

Later addressing a press conference junior finance minister Jayant Sinha said, there should be no trade-off between enforcement and taxpayers' comfort. People want to build a country by paying taxes, Mr Sinha added.