The government expects “very, very strong” tax revenues for the current fiscal year thanks to better-than-expected performance from the business sector, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said on August 11.

Recognizing that the high rates of the GST are having an impact on the automotive sector, Mr. Bajaj said that the GST Council will seek solutions to reduce the rates, remove some items from the tax exemption category and correct the structure of the taxes. rights reversed.

“It’s not that we’ve increased taxes, or that we’ve become more intrusive and come to you asking you to pay more taxes… to,” Mr. Bajaj said at an annual session of the CII.

Net direct tax collection during the April to June quarter of the current fiscal year was over 2.46 lakh crore, compared to over 1.17 lakh crore collected during the same period. of the previous fiscal year (2020-21).

The collection of net indirect tax revenue (GST and non-GST) during the June quarter of the current fiscal year was 3.11 lakh crore.

Net GST collection in the quarter exceeded 1.67 lakh crore, which is 26.6% of the budget estimate of 6.30 lakh crore for the full 2021-22 fiscal year. Net GST collection includes central GST + integrated GST + compensation tax.

Regarding the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Mr. Bajaj said that there are a lot of items where tax rates may need to be changed, but we need to stabilize first the system of government.

Asking private companies to invest more, Mr Bajaj said, “I don’t see private investment happening as much … for sustained and long-term growth of the economy, we want you to introduce yourself. to invest, manufacture, start services and tell us what you expect from us, ”he added.

Last week, the government introduced a bill to quash retroactive tax demands on businesses. The bill proposes to abolish the tax rule that gave the tax service the power to go back 50 years and impose capital gains levies wherever property has changed hands overseas but that their business assets remained in India.

The 2012 legislation was used to levy a cumulative 1.10 lakh crore in tax on 17 entities, including UK telecommunications giant Vodafone, but substantial punitive action was only taken in Cairn’s case.

The Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 aims to withdraw tax claims made using Indian Assets Indirect Transfer legislation 2012 and refund the amount paid in these cases without any interest. .

Regarding increasing the tax-to-GDP ratio, Bajaj said raising rates to increase tax collection was not a solution. Instead, the tax base needs to be broadened to bring more people under the tax net.

“The increase in fiscal dynamism during the current year is also the result of some quiet measures taken by the IT department,” he said, adding that the government was trying to seize a large part of the informal sector, or not enterprises and non-enterprises. salaried sector by highlighting some of their transactions or activities.

“In fact, I’m looking forward to expanding this effort. I don’t want to tax the corporate sector which already pays taxes in the country and contributes a significant share of the country’s taxes, ”he added.