He was speaking to a group of probationers from the 2015 batch of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Central Excise) at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday. pti file photo
Quoting Chanakya’s Arthashastra, President Ram Nath Kovind told probationary officers of the revenue department that they should collect taxes like a honeybee, which “collects just the right amount of honey from the flower so that both (in this case, the government and taxpayers) can survive.”
He was speaking to a group of probationers from the 2015 batch of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Central Excise) at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday.
While the collection of revenue is critical to the task of nation-building, it should be a smooth process, the President said. “There should be minimum discomfort to the tax-payer.”