One of the main issues on which the election was contested related to bringing back, within a specified period, the black money stashed abroad. Since the government has not been able to do it, the Opposition is trying to corner it and perhaps has almost done it, i.e., sowing the seeds of doubt in the mind of common man. Government is not revealing the identity of persons whose have statedly stashed money abroad on the ground that Treaty obligations are preventing it from doing so. The Honourable FM, is a learned man by any standards. He did have a say in the policy matters. Nobody can doubt his credentials nor of the Honourable PM whose sincerity of purpose is above board. However, the question is didn’t the leaders of BJP know about the Treaty obligations when they made the promises? Surely they knew the same and it was meant for pulpits only. Every time the stock reply being given is that SIT has been formed. A perusal of the reference to the SIT shows that the total money involved is around Rs. 7,200 crores which is a pittance. Earlier on also Government had the information of foreign bank accounts. One such list was received from Lichtenstein and another was stolen data. The Income Tax Department did conduct searches and surveys on the basis of this information and people did agree to pay the taxes. However, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the names contained in these lists have not been referred to SIT. Only God knows what is being done about these people. In 2009, USA arm-twisted UBS and got some information. Everybody knows that there is no escape from Inland Revenue Service of USA. However, USA, after realising its limitations, floated a voluntary disclosure scheme, which met with overwhelming response. People disclosed not only the bank accounts whose details were provided by the UBS but other banks also. If USA can do it, then why can’t we do it? And when are we going to plug the Mauritius route? Let it be clear that we need investment but not at the cost of encouraging the inflow of black money through tax havens and getting away with it. India should not be allowed to become another tax haven!
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 07:47:23 +0000
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