The government will introduce a number of measures like bringing people having bank-lockers under the tax net and intensifying search and scrutiny to plug tax evasion in order to shore up revenue in the face of a war-like situation.According to Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha “the war-like situation has continued for many years. I don’t think that should come as an alibi for any failure on the revenue front. One thing I will hate to have is a tax shortfall.” Later talking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference of chief commissioners and director general of income tax, Sinha said “they (I-T department) should do two things — first, bring more people under tax net. Second, where evasion or concealment is taking place, they should be able to bring it to light.” The minister asked the tax authorities to go beyond the one-by-six scheme to attain the revenue target of Rs 1,72,965 crore during 2002-03. “They could look at yellow pages to rope in more companies like private nursing homes as pointed out by the CAG. They can find out who has bank lockers. There are other pieces of information they can look at,” Sinha said.Sinha stressed on scrutiny of income-tax files and asked the tax authorities not to hesitate to search people’s houses and offices where there is valid information of tax evasion. “Substantial evasion is taking place. There is a need for an efficient intelligence system. Wherever there is a valid information for carrying out searches, please don’t hesitate to do so,” he told the taxmen. He also pointed to slackness on the part of taxmen in the areas of tax deduction at source (TDS), saying “if tax is not collected at source, often it is not collected at all.” On tax exemptions, he said
