Page 12 - NIS English Jul 16-31 2024

Cover Story

and focus on capacity building to deliver superior
taxpayer services.
Taking a cue from the focus areas of the Government,
the Department re-engineered its processes at each level
and onboarded various stakeholders/entities including
deductors, banks, state agencies, bureaucracy, third- “Saint Thiruvalluvar had said –
party agencies, taxpayers, tax professionals, and tax उरुपोरुळुम उल््गगु-पोरुळुम तन्-वोन्नार, ततरु-पोरुळुम
administrators. This effort was accelerated in the last वेन््दन पोरुळ, that is, the king has the
decade and the results are there for all to see.
E-governance in tax administration in India is an right over the state taxes received
initiative that we, as citizens of the country, ought as revenue and the money won
to be proud about. In the past decade, the Income from the enemy. Now in democracy,
Tax Department has taken giant strides in Direct there are no kings, the kings are the
Tax e-governance initiatives wherein end-to-end subjects and the government works
technology-driven services are being provided to to serve the subjects. Therefore,
the taxpayers on one hand, and technology-driven you have a very important role in
processing of tax returns with speedy issuance of ensuring that the government gets
refunds is being done, on the other. adequate revenue.”

A shift in leadership and vision - Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
When the country's leadership changed in 2014,
the landscape of India's tax system underwent a
dramatic transformation. Prime Minister Narendra
Modi empathized with honest citizens burdened by a
cumbersome tax system. He said, "There was a need for
fundamental and structural reforms in India's tax system
because this system was created during the period of
slavery and then progressed slowly. After independence,
some changes were made here and there, but on a large
scale, the character of the system remained the same.
The result was that the taxpayer, who is a strong pillar
of nation building, and contributing to bring the
country out of poverty, started being put in the
dock. The income tax notice became like
a decree. On one hand, the number of
taxpayers should have expanded,
and on the other hand, a system
of collusion was formed."

Historical discrepancies
and the need for reform
The prolonged period of colonial
rule ended up creating a relationship
between taxpayers and tax collectors
which was based on distrust and adversarial
governance. Unfortunately, the efforts that should
have been made to change the tax system that was in
place after independence did not get much attention.
Whereas in India, since ancient times, there have been

10 New India Samachar July 16-31, 2024