Tax evasion will not be spared: Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath

VIJAYAWADA: Stating that the government will extend all support to the business community, Minister for Finance and Commercial Taxes Buggana Rajendranath said that they would safeguard the interests of the businessmen as long as they are honest in paying taxes.

Saying ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan and Jai businessmen’ as their slogan, the minister said that the government will follow the honey bee model in the collection of taxes.“The honey bee squeezes honey from the flower without hurting it. Similarly, the government has come up with such model to collect taxes without harassing the businessmen, he added.

Addressing the Trade Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting, held here on Friday, Buggana said, “To reduce physical inspections on business premises, the government is setting up a data analytics cell to detect tax evasion. In case of finding any tax evaders, the officials will go for physical inspections on such business firms.”

Maintaining that the government is able to implement several schemes and programmes from the revenue generated through taxes, the minister said that such a system has been running since the days of kings. “While agriculture was the main source of taxes in those days, business emerged as the major source of taxes in the current scenario,” he said.

Observing that traders have a tendency of evading tax intentionally by following the advice of tax consultants, he recalled that at one point of time when he handled his business after completing of studies, he got a piece of advice from a consultant to evade tax. “But my father made me understand the importance of paying tax promptly to the government, which in turn will be spent on the welfare and development of the needy people,” added he.

While assuring that the government will look into all the grievances raised by the traders and will put sincere efforts to resolve them, Buggana, however, cautioned that any malpractice to evade taxes will be dealt seriously. The minister announced that the TAC meetings will be conducted once in every three months to take the suggestions and advice of traders and to resolve their issues.

Earlier, planning board vice president and Vijayawada Central MLA Malladi Vishnu complained that jewellery shops levy more than 20% gold waste charges on customers and appealed to the minister to initiate measures to curb the menace. Several traders also raised their objections to the officials charging penalties for some technical issues and also targeting them for the generation of revenue. Buggana assured to look into all the issues raised by the traders.