Widen income tax net: Senior official

Kolkata, March 7:

The ambit of income tax needs to be increased to bring in more people within its fold besides widening the scope of taxing the super-rich category, according to a senior official.

“I think the tax base (in the country) should be increased,” the Income Tax Depasrtment’s Principal Chief Commissioner for West Bengal and Sikkim C.L. Denzongpa told IANS on the sidelines of a CII event here.

He said only three percent of the India’s population of over 1.2 billion is enrolled with the income tax department of which half are tax payers.

Denzongpa said the state’s earnings will increase if the tax base is amplified.

“The super-rich tax also needs to be widened,” he added.

The budget for 2015-16 tabled in parliament last Saturday imposes an additional two percent surcharge on tax for individuals whose annual income is Rs.1 crore or more.

Besides individuals, the super-rich category also includes Hindu Undivided Families, firms, cooperative societies and local authorities.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his budget speech, had indicated that the government expects to raise Rs.9,000 crore from the two percent additional surcharge.

According to the tax official, the super-rich class of tax payers would not be hit the hardest in case of a tax hike.

In 2013-14, then finance minister P. Chidambaram had levied a 10 percent surcharge on taxable income of Rs.1 crore and above. IANS