India has Moved from Tax-Terrorism to Tax-Transparency: Prime Minister

New Delhi:11/11/20: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated Office-cum-Residential Complex of Cuttack Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal through video conference today. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said this bench would now provide modern facilities not only to Odisha but to millions of taxpayers of Eastern and North-Eastern India and help in disposing of all the pending cases in this region.

.The Prime Minister said the thought process in the government is to trust the income tax return completely at first after being filed. As a result of this, 99.75 percent of the returns filed in the country today are accepted without any objection. He said it is a big change in the country’s tax system.

.The Prime Minister attributed zero tax on income up to Rs 5 lakh in the country as a huge benefit being given to our youth of lower-middle-class today. He added that the new option of income tax given in the budget this year has simplified the lives of the taxpayer. He said to speed up the pace of development and make India more investment-friendly a historic cut has been made in corporate tax. He said the tax rate for new domestic manufacturing companies has been set at 15 percent for the country to become self-sufficient in manufacturing. He added Dividend Distribution Tax has also been scrapped to increase investment in India’s equity market. GST has also reduced the tax net and the tax rate in most goods and services has also come down. He said ease of doing business has improved in the country as a result of reducing the burden of disputes by increasing the limit of appeal from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 50 lakh in ITAT and to Rs 2 crore in Supreme Court.

The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction that the IT Appellate Tribunal is also upgrading its Benches across the country for Virtual Hearing and said it is very important to upgrade the entire system in the era of technology. He stressed that more and more use of technology especially in our judiciary has started giving new convenience to the citizens of the country.