In the matter of paying income tax, let us accept the bitter truth that in our country, we have still a large segment of society that has not overcome the weakness of evading tax payment. This is a social aberration. The Government has been handling this problem with care, patience and lot of understanding. We in the State are also the victims of this aberration. This is despite the fact that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has been repeatedly and consistently advising the people to ascertain whether they are having taxable income, and if yes, they should fill the return as stipulated in tax rules. The Union Finance Ministry has taken certain steps to streamline tax collection strategy because it believes that as of today a very large segment of taxable income remains outside the pale of tax payment and this gap needs to be filled. Let us take a brief statistical view of current taxable graph. There were only 84,000 assessees of the Income Tax Department as against 13 lakh PAN card holders across Jammu and Kashmir in June-July last year. Moreover, out of 84,000 assessees only 66923 were the effective assessees (those who are regularly filing their returns). However, as a result of numerous initiatives taken by the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, J&K circle and the team, the number of effective assessees has risen from 66923 to 157811 as on February 1, 2016 which is more than double. By initiating certain measures 90,000 effective assessees have been added during a short span of 6 months. These measures essentially comprise implementation of established rules. It has now been revealed that by updating the number of effective assessees, J&K Income Tax circle is leading the North-West Region in widening of tax base. The interesting point to note is that this spectacular success has been achieved despite the fact that J&K Circle is short of manpower. Against the posts of three Additional Commissioners, J&K has only one Additional Commissioner. Moreover, one post of Assistant Commissioner is also lying vacant during the past quite long time. In addition to this, the strength of lower staff in the J&K circle is far less that what is sanctioned. Naturally, under these handicaps it is difficult to do justice to the nature of the task lying ahead. Credit should be given to the staff and officers who have not defaulted. They have said that this is not the end of the exercise and many more assessees are likely to fall in the net. Actually, adding a big figure to the existing one of the assessees has happened after Income Tax offices were opened in Katra, Samba and Baramulla. According to official reports J&K’s growth rate has increased by 15.26 per cent in comparison to previous financial year’s rate. In Jammu also as a result of widening exercise, a tax income of 1.25 crore rupees has been realized.
We as responsible citizen have to understand that we cannot escape the rules and regulations by which the country is run. If our country has to grow, develop and expand to become a leading economy, our income will be accounted for.
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