Burden on taxpayers should be reduced, says PM Modi

Hailing taxpayers as the pillar of nation building Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the contribution of  country’s taxpayers should be celebrated and respected.

In an interview with the news agency ANI PM Modi said, “As far as middle-class taxpayers are concerned they should be celebrated and respected…. how will the country function if we abuse taxpayers day in and day out.”

Talking about the efficient and transparent tax collection system, PM Modi highlighted that the number of taxpayers under his government has more than doubled.

“There has been seen change with respect to filing taxes, in the last 10 years number of people filing for Income Tax Returns (ITR) has more than doubled, earlier less than 4 crore people used to file ITR today more than 8 crore people are filing ITR. Tax collection has witnessed a three-fold surge which means the net tax collection was 11 lakh crore earlier and today net tax collection has surged to Rs 34 lakh crore,” PM Modi said.

He attributed the rise in the number of taxpayers to the confidence they have in nation-building.

“It is happening because the taxpayer today has the confidence that the tax which he is paying is being utilised for the development work… Moreover, there is no tax up to income of Rs 7 lakh and despite that our tax collection is increasing,” PM Modi said.

“The dream which I have for this country will only be possible from the money which people give in taxes. For the development of the country I believe the numbers of taxpayers should increase and the burden on taxpayers should reduce,” PM Modi added.