CAIT URGE FOR TAX OMBUDSMAN & ONE LICENCE REGIME
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) welcomed the announcement Prime Minister Narendra Modi made today for the Transparent Taxation system having faceless assessment & faceless appeal as its core fundamentals . ” The taxpayers in the Country are generally harassed & victimised by the lower level of bureaucracy prompting the people to remain away from the taxation system. However, the announcement of the Prime Minister today has assured the trading community of the Country of getting due dignity as the tax collector for the Country-said the CAIT. The CAIT is more willing to join hands with the Government in widening the tax base which will yield more revenue to the Government as also to highlight and mitigate the genuine problems of the traders of the Country which remain un-addressed to non-responsive bureaucracy.
CAIT National President Mr. B.C.Bhartia & Secretary General Mr. Praveen Khandelwal while terming the announcement of the PM Modi a ” revolutionary step” for trade & commerce in the Country said that in order to ensure ease of doing business, we request the Prime Minister to abolish all kinds of licenses applicable on trade & commerce and replace the same with one licence on the pattern of Aadhar Card. They also requested the Prime Minister to appoint a ” Tax Ombudsman” with a retired Supreme Court Judge as the Chair in case of Central Act and a retired High Court Judge as the Chair in States for State Taxation Acts.
Both Mr. Bhartia & Mr. Khandelwal said that PM Modi has addressed the core problem of the traders that they get very limited time to do business and most of the time is consumed in complying statutory obligations. Proposed reforms will relieve the business community from this unnecessary burden. Over the period, physical and face to face contact has emerged as one of major sources of corruption. With a faceless system, corruption can be capped to a larger extent. However, the Government has to ensure that the assessee should not be called by the tax authority on one pretext or the other, as is prevalent till now.
