Only 1.5% Of The Population Has the Rights to question Country and It’s Policies | God of Small Thing

Only 1.5% Of The Population Has the Rights to question Country and It’s Policies

Taxpaying has always been in the neck of every Indian. A compulsory contribution to a person or entity or to the state and the country is always been a skipping stone by maximum citizens of the country.  The count of taxpayers in India is small and deficient. It is worth questioning that a country of 135 crore citizens has only 1.5% i.e. 2 crore people to pay tax. There can be no quick fix such a low count of taxpayers in the country.

Every person should pay tax?

It is not a thumb rule that every citizen has to pay tax. 93% of Indians earn less than 5 lakh per year which unbound them from tax. But several categories like farmers, educational and charitable societies earn more than 5 lakh but are unbound to taxation. Doctors and lawyers pay a low rate of income tax even when they earn far more than 5 lakh. Being capable and still not paying the full amount of income tax has become a trend in the country.

Taxation a need?

Tax is an important legacy by an individual to the country. The money collected from the tax is spent by the government for a common interest and in implementing infrastructure and policies that will benefit the people of the country. The government uses the tax money in works of public interest and benefits which help the country grow. So every individual who is capable of paying tax should not exempt themselves from taxation. The government has a basic role in development, maintenance of economic equation, improving the economic condition of general people, all this is done with help of the revenue collected from the citizens in form of tax.

Transparency by the Indian government

In 2012-13 India got a count of only 1% of taxpayers from a total population of 135 crore people. The government became transparent and revealed the data for the last 15 years data of direct tax open to the public. The data for individuals has been published for the year 2012-2013. A total of 2.87 crore individual filed an income tax return but 1.62 crores of them did not pay any tax leaving 1.25 core people of the total population of 135 crore people as the only taxpayers.

According to previous Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Indians are terrible in paying tax.  In his annual budget speech, he said that “India’s tax to GDP is very low and the population of a direct tax to indirect tax is not optional from the viewpoint of social justice “. He even offered the data of 2015-16 in which 3.7 crore individuals filed tax return out of which 2.94 are below the income of 2.5 lakh per year.

Effect of demonetization on taxation

People in India use black money as an alternate of taxation showing their basic income below 5 lakhs. After demonetization, count of legal taxpayers saw an exponential curve. Deposits in the banks between 2 lakh to 80 lakh were done in approximately 1.09 crore accounts with deposits of almost rupees 5.03 lakh per account approximately and deposits above 80 lakh were done in 1.48 crore accounts with deposits of almost rupees 3.31 crore. This data will help in the increase in tax revenue for the government. People will not be able to exempt themselves from taxation.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made an appeal to the Indian citizens to contribute to Nation building by paying tax fairly to the government of the country which will indirectly be very helpful to the citizens of the country.

It’s that time of the year when ITR is filed. The date to fill out the ITR forms is extended to 31st August 2019 from 31 July 2019. Its high time we as a citizen of the country contribute our part in developing the country. The tax collected will indeed be utilized for people of the country. And if you don’t pay the tax, you actually have no rights to ask questions to the government.