While CII chief economist Omkar Goswami defended the recommendations of the task forces on direct and indirect taxes (not that he had a choice since he was also a member of the task forces), Planning Commission member and former revenue secretary N.K. Singh clearly had a different view. During a Q&A session at the CII-WEF meet, he voiced his views saying “all tax systems should be viewed in socio-economic context and the FM has also said that though the task forces have submitted their reports it does not mean that the reports have been accepted. Exemptions would continue as the FM has already said.” Taking a dig at Vijay Kelkar and Goswami, Singh said that “economists are hardly consistent and they change their stands often. That is an advantage of being an economist.”
