Punjab Congress on Tuesday asked the Income Tax department not to resort to “tax terrorism” on the traders and businessmen to meet
their revenue targets.
“The IT department is free to ensure lawful and legal compliance but bullying and terrorising the traders in an extortionist manner is unacceptable,” said Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Capt Amarinder Singh.
“Better not unleash your income tax department on businessmen lest they are forced to wind up and shutdown”, he warned the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while telling him that no business can survive in a taxation regime that tries to terrorize the businessmen.
Sharing the concern of the traders and businessmen who met him on Tuesday, PPCC president said that he will also raise the matter with Jaitley to ensure that the harassment is stopped immediately.
The traders’ delegation said that the income tax authorities have asked their officials to conduct surveys where they (the traders and businessmen) are forcibly asked to make declarations about their income.
They said that it was for the first time that the IT department had resorted to such extreme, forcible and arm-twisting tactics.
PPCC president said that since the Central Government had failed to bring back the black money from the foreign banks, it was now trying to use intimidating and arm-twisting tactics and techniques to make the small traders and businessmen shell out money, which is not acceptable and simply amounts to extortion and “taxation terror”.
Capt Amarinder said that the business in Punjab was already under severe strain and with the IT department resorting to such extreme and draconian measures, it will further force it to shut down.
“When we want and are trying hard to restore the confidence of the business and industry in the state, the IT department is trying its worst to play the spoilsport”, he said, while adding that no business can flourish under draconian dictatorship which the current Government is resorting to by unleashing the IT department on the businessmen.