Tread lightly
Last week, the year’s second voluntary income disclosure scheme was approved by Lok Sabha and operationalised. Along with it were reports of bankers being sacked (बरखास्त) or suspended for complicity (सहापराधिता) in attempts to launder (अवैध धन को वैध बनाना) unaccounted money, and an invitation to citizens to lodge (दायर करना) anonymous (नामरहित/अज्ञातकृत) complaints if they notice suspicious (संदिग्ध/संदेहजनक) activity. The weeks following demonetization have been accompanied by growing intrusiveness of the state. Big government seems to be back with a vengeance (प्रतिशोध/बदला). But India’s earlier experiment in this area led to an inspector raj and created opportunities for corruption to flourish (पनपना/फलना फूलना). It must not be repeated.
A legitimate expectation of demonetization was that it would leave trails which could be used to bring tax evaders to book. This was in line with a series of steps taken over the last decade to create an audit trail in myriad areas to allow tax authorities to mine data. This is a sound way of widening the tax net. In addition to tax authorities, agencies such as the Financial Intelligence Unit processed information related to suspicious financial transactions. India was switching to a more sophisticated (परिष्कृत) way of enforcing tax rules.
.It is important that government now build upon a decade’s work. Threats of tax raids and allowing bureaucrats to exercise excessive power will be counterproductive. The return of an inspector raj will have a chilling effect on economic activity. It will only prolong the ongoing economic disruption. Government must send the right message to all economic agents. Legitimate (वैध/न्यायसंगत) economic activity ought to be encouraged and needless impediments (अवरोध/बाधा) removed. Exhorting (प्रेरित करना/आग्रह करना) people to use digital modes of payment is not enough. Different arms of the government should make better use of technology to do their work.
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