REFORMING TAX DEPARTMENT

The style of functioning of the Taxes Department will be changed in a year, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has said.
Speaking at a function at the Hosangadi check-post of the State Commercial Taxes Department after inaugurating the newly installed weigh bridge there on Sunday, the Minister said the government was implementing a time-bound programme with the aim of reforming the department. The Commercial Taxes Department needed to become more effective, he said.
While value-added tax (VAT) collection from the State was around Rs.6,000 crore, the total amount recovered by the Taxes Department from those who evaded taxes or failed to remit taxes properly came to only one per cent of the VAT collection. VAT gave freedom to traders to submit the details of their accounts of transactions voluntarily.
The Taxes Department needed to be more vigilant while scrutinising the accounts, he said.