Budget's Tax Proposals Are A Fine Balancing Act: Revenue Secretary

India is among the lowest taxed countries on the income front, insists Ajay Bhushan Pandey

- KR Srivats

Defending the tax proposals in the recent Budget as a fine balancing act under the current economic milieu, Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said that tax rates in India are “not repressive”, but among the most competitive in the world.

The Budget measures are focussed on getting the right balance between transforming the country into a modern economy and mobilizing the revenues required for this purpose while ensuring social welfare, Pandey said at post Budget round-table with select CEOs organized by BusinessLine and presented by Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd and powered by LIC Mutual Fund.

The corporate tax rate changes ushered in September last year and the removal of the Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) in the recent Budget have placed India among the lowest taxed countries (on income tax front), he said. At the same time, Pandey also said that India was in no position to compete with countries that are tax havens or city-states.

“If India was like Mumbai, perhaps we could have done away with the Income Tax Act. We could then have just remained with property tax or other kinds of tax. But, India is not just Mumbai or Delhi. India is India. We have to understand that,” he said.