New Delhi, Aug 5: Tax evaders beware! Faced with sluggish industrial growth and its impact on revenue collections, the government today said it would step up “surveys” to maintain the tax buoyancy.
“We are trying to maintain (tax) buoyancy by enhancing/strengthening the tax collecting machinery; by bringing more people through surveys and other information within the tax net...”, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in the Lok Sabha.
The word ‘survey' according to the Income Tax Act, 1961 refers to collection of information at business premises, assessing expenditure on marriages parties and other celebrations.
Replying to a debate on demands for supplementary grants of Rs 34,724 crore for this fiscal, Mukherjee said that so far in 2011-12, the revenue collections have been robust with indirect tax collection growing by 30 per cent and direct tax revenues up 26 per cent so far.
However, he conceded that the government revenue would take a hit if industrial production goes down. “If the industrial production goes down then it will have an adverse impact in future”, he said adding the government is also trying to resolve tax disputes through a settlement mechanism to unlock the money.
The amount stuck in income tax cases was Rs 2,42,377 crore as on December 31, 2010 as compared to Rs 2,88,336 crore at the end of 2009.
While the industrial growth has remained in the positive territory, the pace of expansion has come down to 5.7 per cent during the April-May period this fiscal against 10.8 per cent a year ago. PTI
