Suggestions on mobilising additional Revenues by the Ministry of Finance.
The Income of some individual dividend recipients (e.g. Mukhesh Ambani) though in Hundreds of crores of dividend has been escaping taxation, the ground being that the income stands already taxed in the hands of the dividend-distributing company. The ground is disputable. The Income of almost anyone and everyone would have been taxed in the hands of the payer, but that ground is not relied on to waive the taxation of the income of the recipient Hence there appears to be no justification for exempting dividend income altogether from income tax.. Dividend income above a certain level, say Rs.10 lacs or Rs.15 lacs may be taxed.
Many Horticulturists and Agriculturists (Apple Orchards, owners of large-sized farm owners) escape taxation because any activity going by the name of Agriculture has been a Holy Cow in India and exempted altogether from taxation, irrespective of how high the level of agricultural income. The surplus vis a vis the cost of living and the cost of living for self, family and other dependents is spent on avoidable luxuries, acquisition of power over others (whether justified or not). Morally or ethically it is not essential to leave such surplus of income untaxed. Agricultural income above Rs.10 lacs may be subjected to income tax.
Amongst various incentives given for exports is total exemption from income tax. Total exemption from income tax may act as incentive only in the case of small or marginal exporters. The export income (e.g., on Information Technology exports) tends to be wasted by way of unjustified payment of high salaries to their employees and executives. Hence all large exporters with income of, say, Rs.10 lacs may be subjected to Income Tax.
Nicholas Kaldor,a famous Economist from Cambridge University when requested in early 1950’s by Government of India to give suggestions on how black money can be minimised by maximising collection of Income Tax gave suggestion as follows.
Income of anybody and everybody is the Expenditure of some other individual or company. So the Report of Income filed by every individual or company may contain report of his/their expenditure. When such reports of all with income over exemption limit are compared and contrasted with such Reports of others, any misreporting comes to light. At the time this suggestion was given the type of computer software was not available. Now software for comparison of huge data contained in such reports is available. Individual expenditure and individual income may be reported in lacs of Rupees, as also source from whom or to whom.. Any expenditure not matched by income can thereby be identified warranting further investigation.. more