Prime Minister Narendra Modi was speaking at the first of its kind 'Rajasva Gyan Sangam'.
Senior tax officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) interacted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday at the first of its kind 'Rajasva Gyan Sangam.
At the meet in New Delhi, Modi suggested five pillars for tax administration -- viz RAPID
- Revenue
- Accountability
- Probity
- Information; and
- Digitisation
He urged tax officials to move towards digitisation and make tax administration better and efficient.
Modi also wants tax officials to help remove the fear of harassment from the mind of assesses.
Modi was slated to inaugurate the two-day annual conference of senior administrations of the CBDT and CBEC at the Vigyan Bhavan.
This is the first time the two boards are holding their conference together. Until now, they held separate conferences with the Finance Minister as the chief guest.
Modi was scheduled to motivate the revenue officers to achieve higher standards in taxpayer friendly service in view of fast paced changes in the world economy and to address some of the challenges that these departments face in this scenario.
At the inaugural meet of the two-day event, Modi was flanked by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha.
Stating that the revenue department officials already know where the problem lies with regard to tax collection, Modi said after the two-day 'Gyan Sangam' the field officers should convert it to "Karma Sangam" so that the ideas generated could lead to concrete actions on the ground.
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said Prime Minister has asked tax officials to build "bridge of confidence" between tax payers and tax officials so that they pay taxes without fear or harassment.
He said tax officials should act like "mentors of taxpayers" and not treat them as "tax evaders".
"People of India are inherently honest. If you build trust then people will pay taxes and you will be able to achieve the target," Modi said.
Prime Minister said while there should be a respect for the rule of law among all citizens and fear of the long arm of the law for those who evade taxes, people should not fear tax administrators.
During an hour-long interaction with the officials, Modi also underlined the need for tax administrators to engender trust in the system so that tax base can be enhanced.
As many as 15 officers from the CBDT and CBEC posed their questions to Prime Minister on various issues being faced by them in their regular work.
The issues included dilemma over whether officials should act as law enforcement agency or taxpayer friendly agency while collecting due taxes from people.
Another suggestion from officers were to bring a "tax facilitation act" which would have rules for dealing with tax payers.
They also raised the issue of voluntary tax compliance, increasing tax base, upgradation of digital and physical infrastructure for tax administrators.
Sinha said Prime Minister laid out certain goals and objectives for the officials to increase the tax base to 10 crore from 5.43 crore at present.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Representational Image")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}