Chidambaram decries doubting Thomases

“It will come to a close at midnight but at the same time I have instructed the officers to make elaborate arrangements that any one who enters the Income-Tax office before midnight of December 31 will be accommodated under the VDIS”. Chidambaram does not spare his sarcasm on the people who doubt the success of the VDIS, “I did not set any goals. It was the media which said at the beginning that I will be lucky if I collected Rs 500 crore. As the days have gone by, I find that the media has been moving the goal post further and further. The moving goal posts provide the side-show for the whole VDIS campaign”.

Asked whether the collections have crossed the Rs 500 crore-figure, the FM said, “I don’t collect figures. Let’s wait for the first few days of January ”.

On the issue of morality involved in allowing tax-evaders to get away by parting with some of their income, he says “In tax collection, there is no question of morality. It is a question of having effective tax laws and collecting taxes effectively. I only set to myself the task of introducing in the country a culture of compliance with tax laws."

It did not matter whether we collected a few hundred crore rupees or not.”Chidambaram is confident that lowering of taxes has led to greater buoyancy in collections. “This year you will see that the number of new assessees is larger than last year,” he said.

But the inflow has not lived upto the FMs budgetary calculations. “There are some areas where there could be a shortfall. It is a mixed picture. Customs front continues to be sluggish. But it’s beyond my immediate control, because imports are sluggish. We are trying to make a determined effort to reach the target. If there is a shortfall under one head or the other, the VDIS collection will to some extent bridge that gap”.

But what about the fiscal deficit? “Let’s see. It depends not only on revenue but also on expenditure. The fiscal deficit factor did come under some pressure. But let’s see where we stand at the end of the fiscal year.”On the finance ministry’s future plans, he says, “Once the focus on VDIS comes to an end after a few days, the emphasis would shift to new areas like flat buyers, telephone owners and so on, for whom we have 60 days time to motivate and bring them into the IT net. Once this part of the strategy is over, we will unfold steps to bring more revenue. Our emphasis is on a managerial approach of widening the IT net, expanding the IT base and enhancing IT revenue. The strategy is paying dividends”.