SME Times News Bureau | 23 Jul, 2020
Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey on Thursday said that GST rates
can be reduced further, if the tax base increases.
"Once the tax base increases, if we are able to enforce our tax laws, and
everyone pays taxes properly, there will be definitely scope for further
reduction of taxes," he said.
Addressing a session on 'Digitisation in Governance' at CAPAM 2020, Pandey
said: "We are quite aware of this and we are undertaking the exercise. The
ultimate aim should be that we collect minimum taxes at minimum rates.
Government should collect taxes which are absolutely necessary and to that
extent, we need to increase our tax base."
He also said that the government is also working on reducing the number of
forms under the GST.
Noting that there were 495 forms in the pre-GST era with 17 different taxes
which were levied by various states, he said: "After the introduction of
GST, the number of forms has have reduced to 17-18, and we want to further cut
down the number of forms in GST."
He added that with IT-enabled platforms, there is no 'inspector raj' now, and
GST regime has become faceless. Elaborating on the new measures undertaken for
income tax assessment, including the faceless assessment of taxpayers, he said
that the government is working on promoting self-compliance.
The Finance Secretary also said that the government is also working on
providing a full tax profile for each taxpayer.
"We have all the information and if it can be shared in a secure manner,
protecting the privacy of the individual, this will also help in securing loans
from banks. The entire digital exercise is being undertaken across various
government departments. We are making all that information available and
providing it to each taxpayer," he said.
He also said that all the information is getting integrated for the benefit of
the citizens, including ease of doing business, ease of living and is also
enhancing their capabilities.
Stressing on the importance of digitisation, Pandey said that India is the only
country to have Aadhaar, an Aadhaar-enabled payment system, direct benefit
transfer scheme and UPI payment scheme.
In the last three months, the total Aadhaar-enabled transactions have crossed
Rs 50,000 crore and UPI transaction has taken over debit card transactions and
cash withdrawals.
Highlighting the revenue trend and the potential of the Indian economy, Pandey
said: "All figures are giving an encouraging signal that the economy is
coming back on track sooner than what was being anticipated when the lockdown
started."