Whose Tax Is It Anyway.


Income tax department is the most ill-informed one in India. They do not seem to have a mechanism that allows them to assess one’s income and wealth, professionally. They have of course many intuitions of their own to, smell and find the wrong man at the appropriate right time.

It always happens with all the Government establishments. The police cannot find the most dreaded terrorist or an extortionist, or a hard-core criminal, while the whole world gets familiar with him, particularly the print and broadcast media. Likewise, the taxmen cannot find a wealthy man, or one who amassed wealth in a short span of time, with no known sources of income. However, the whole world knows about this. Sometimes even the Income tax people too have information, but the department has certain guidelines before they strike.

The modus operandi is obvious. For instance, if the tax defaulter tends to go on a shopping spree, like buying a thousand pens or buying ten kilos of onions or buying ten tickets at a local IMAX theatre, or present or buy sunglasses, then they appear and strike. This makes their jobs easy. Previously, the Income tax department used to ask, if you are traveling by flight, if you have a credit card, if you own a car, then you need to file an income tax return. However, today they are not insisting tax returns from those who travel by flight, the rates of traveling by flight has come down to as low as 500 rupees, they do not target you, if you own a car, but will definitely do, if you are filling petrol into it. Now you need to file returns if you are traveling by train, if you are buying onions, if you are buying vegetables, if you are buying petrol. Next time, make sure that nobody is watching you whenever you go out shopping for onions or vegetables, booking tickets at a cinema theatre or buying petrol for your car. The guy who would be approaching you can be an income tax inspector.

Surprisingly, there are so many politicians in the country, who amass wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income. Why is the income tax department not able to organise raids, extract information, and squeeze their assets. Why the high-profile Finance Minister Mr. Chidambaram, do not question his MPs and his contemporary politicians about their amassed wealth, but instead run around those who buy pens and onions. It is easy to run a column in a leading magazine, when not in power and make ‘Politically Incorrect’ statements, than correcting the politics, when in power.

Mr. Chidambaram, are you listening.