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PASSAGE II
The weeks following demonetisation have been accompanied by growing intrusiveness of the state. Big governments seem to be back with a vengeance. But, India’s earlier experiment in this area led to an inspector raj and created opportunities for corruption to flourish. It must not be repeated. A legitimate expectation of .? demonetisation 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 transaction.
India was switching to a m ore sophisticated way of enforcing tax rules. It is important that government now builds 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 economic activity ought to be encouraged and needless impediments removed. Exhorting people to use digital m odes of payment is not enough. Different arm s of the government should make better use of technology to do their work.
The weeks following demonetisation have been accompanied by growing intrusiveness of the state. Big governments seem to be back with a vengeance. But, India’s earlier experiment in this area led to an inspector raj and created opportunities for corruption to flourish. It must not be repeated. A legitimate expectation of .? demonetisation 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 transaction.
India was switching to a m ore sophisticated way of enforcing tax rules. It is important that government now builds 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 economic activity ought to be encouraged and needless impediments removed. Exhorting people to use digital m odes of payment is not enough. Different arm s of the government should make better use of technology to do their work.
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