A presentation made last week for a sub-group of
Secretaries set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to abolish
income tax and over 30 local, State and Central taxes. The proposal from
a Pune-based tax research outfit, Arthakranti, advocates replacing the
present tax system with a single 2 per cent levy per receipt in bank
accounts and recommends that just import duties be retained from the
present system.
While the government is pitching for
quick passage of the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill for the rollout
of the Goods and Services Tax, Arthakranti’s proposal envisages a
system that does not tax consumption or income, as is the case now, but
the “velocity of money”.
“It was clarified by the
official who made the presentation that the ‘ground-breaking’ tax reform
proposal is not for the consideration of the upcoming budget,” an
official source, who attended the meeting, told The Hindu. The
“innovative” proposal was aimed at reducing corruption and eliminating
the cost of compliance for taxpayers, the source said.
Earlier
when yoga guru Ramdev had called for the abolition of income tax,
Arthakranti submitted this proposal in the run-up to the 2014 general
election to the Highways Minister and former BJP president, Nitin
Gadkari. Then, he was heading a BJP committee responsible for preparing
its vision document on reforms in police, administration, judiciary,
taxation and education. “Even in the U.S., a senator from Hawaii has
introduced a private member Bill on a similar concept,” Arthakranti’s
Anil Bokil had then told The Hindu. thehindu.com/news/national/plan-to-scrap-income-tax-gets-highlevel-hearing/article8206478.ece
