When I was working, my employer, a public sector bank, had asked all employees to open one more Savings account in addition to the primary account in which the salary was credited. The idea was to credit all reimbursements, exempt from tax, to this second account. Why? So that the taxman is spared the trouble (or sadistic pleasure?) of asking, and the taxpayer the onus of explaining, the nature of reimbursement credits. The primary account is picture and law perfect and the secondary account need not be mentioned in the return which has a field only for the primary account.
This acknowledges the universal truth that taxmen, generally armed with excessive powers, are exceedingly difficult people to deal with. It is more so in the case of tax payers at the lower end, namely, the salaried class. And hence anything that adds teeth to the taxman's bite is sure to get the goat of the tax paying and form-filling public, especially the salaried class.
The proposed revised return forms - I call them the 'Kathin' forms - also acknowledge a chink in the Aadhaar and PAN fortified armor of the tax collectors. Now all accounts compulsorily have PAN numbers, or a declaration in lieu thereof. And hence it should not be difficult for the government in this brave new world of big data to find out all the accounts of an individual in the whole of the banking system if they need to. That they plan to ask the taxpayer to disclose the information only acknowledges their inability to do so. Or, it could be just plain sinister. Yes, I can find it out but I will do so only when you omit to mention your account. It is the classical game of NIGYYSOB (Now I Got You, You Son Of a Bitch!) First you frighten a (weak) taxpayer into non-disclosure and then pounce upon him! I would like to think that this is what all the public outrage is about.
And all the dust that the Finance Minister has raised with his proposals brings the question back with a bang - 'Why are you not even discussing Banking Transaction Tax?' This will do away with the guilt of tax evasion, the huge army of tax collectors, a vast array of acts and rates that you have to fiddle with in each budget etcetera, etcetera. Is it because it will also call for minimizing the use of currency in big ticket transactions and that is something that the corrupt and the powerful cannot do without. Perhaps that is the crux of the matter.
Why has Baba Ramdeo gone silent on his strident demand for BTT? Why has the BJP totally forgotten its earlier promises to reduce the iniquitous burden of direct taxes on the salaried class? One would think that our Finance Minister not only wants the middle class to look after itself it also wants this class to have its hands full of things to watch out for and defend itself against? The PM, of course, is silent on this issue as on other thorny ones.
This acknowledges the universal truth that taxmen, generally armed with excessive powers, are exceedingly difficult people to deal with. It is more so in the case of tax payers at the lower end, namely, the salaried class. And hence anything that adds teeth to the taxman's bite is sure to get the goat of the tax paying and form-filling public, especially the salaried class.
The proposed revised return forms - I call them the 'Kathin' forms - also acknowledge a chink in the Aadhaar and PAN fortified armor of the tax collectors. Now all accounts compulsorily have PAN numbers, or a declaration in lieu thereof. And hence it should not be difficult for the government in this brave new world of big data to find out all the accounts of an individual in the whole of the banking system if they need to. That they plan to ask the taxpayer to disclose the information only acknowledges their inability to do so. Or, it could be just plain sinister. Yes, I can find it out but I will do so only when you omit to mention your account. It is the classical game of NIGYYSOB (Now I Got You, You Son Of a Bitch!) First you frighten a (weak) taxpayer into non-disclosure and then pounce upon him! I would like to think that this is what all the public outrage is about.
And all the dust that the Finance Minister has raised with his proposals brings the question back with a bang - 'Why are you not even discussing Banking Transaction Tax?' This will do away with the guilt of tax evasion, the huge army of tax collectors, a vast array of acts and rates that you have to fiddle with in each budget etcetera, etcetera. Is it because it will also call for minimizing the use of currency in big ticket transactions and that is something that the corrupt and the powerful cannot do without. Perhaps that is the crux of the matter.
Why has Baba Ramdeo gone silent on his strident demand for BTT? Why has the BJP totally forgotten its earlier promises to reduce the iniquitous burden of direct taxes on the salaried class? One would think that our Finance Minister not only wants the middle class to look after itself it also wants this class to have its hands full of things to watch out for and defend itself against? The PM, of course, is silent on this issue as on other thorny ones.
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