And for a Friday …… a record of 5 million NEW Income Tax returns filed this assessment year …… some thoughts ….. some musings ….
The dichotomy of Indian tax rules , evaders & compliances is paradoxical …..statistics are unbelievable … of the total population of 1400 million people 95% do not file any returns ….. thanks to various exemptions….. Agricultural income non taxable … backward area industry concessions …. North East hill development concession…. Micro business ….etcetc ….. of the 78 million who filed ITR this year ……. only 26 mn have paid any taxes …. rest have filed NIL tax returns enable them keep a clean record of having filed & maintain Active Tax record , yet not paid a single rupee as tax ….,& not surprisingly there are fewer Super Rich who stay back & pay taxes in India ….. only a ridiculous number of 12,681 citizens have income over 10 crores in the whole country …… I feel that many will be in just …. South Mumbai itself ….obviously the Super Rich have taken to tax haven places & run business & activities as NRIs or OCIs ….….. in the end it’s just the salary earning & retired classes in India who bear the bulk of the tax burden ……
By definition Black Money are Funds & Assets earned thru legal or illegal means but concealed from tax authorities …..legal means include many professions as Doctors … lawyers .. CAs … Artists … who under-report their real incomes ….. illegal activities are funds generated thru Corruption , Crime, Bribery ,Smuggling etc etc …..loopholes such as Agri land … Agri income … family generational Gold inherited are cleverly manipulated by knowledgeable experts who can “ Round trip “ Black Money ……how else can you justify the sale in one year of 19,363 Mercedes Benz cars plus 25,335 other luxury vehicles like BMW, Jaguar , etcetc…… sale of more than 10,135 Super luxury Apartments of Rs 5 crores+ each ….only in city of Bangalore ….. add all Indian Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities more than one lakh SL Apartments may have changed hands in last one year alone ……this is a paradox every tax paying honest citizen is struggling with & looking for answers to …….
Black Money … Corruption & Ease of living are issues each of us have to contend with ….. let us all resolve to fight the networked way …. the sustainable way …. the SEEGOS way.