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Another amnesty scheme for black money holders

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[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Narendra Modi government at the centre has come up with a new announcement, furthermore; a 10 per cent penalty will be levied on the undisclosed income and surcharge called Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGK) Cess at the rate of 33% of tax. A decision has already been taken to demonetise higher denomination currency notes on 8th November, 2016 by the ruling NDA government under the leadership of Modi. For any change to happen, some trouble will continue which has to be faced by the common man only.

In the last general election, corruption was the agenda which gave NDA government a massive majority. Having coming to power on this major issue, Modi government was in pressure to demonetised big currency of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes. However, it introduced the much higher denomination note which is double the amount of last higher demonetised note. Already, fake Rs. 2000 notes have been hit the market and found in the circulation. Some notes were found in possession of deceased terrorists too. Nothing seems to have changed for the people in corruption industry, what has changed is the common man’s life. It has become worst; they are struggling every day in bank queues to manage one single note.

Strangely, the opposition parties called for a “bandh” against demonetisation. Why PM is talking only about black money, corruption or demonetisation. The basic issue is cash crunch that is the root cause of all the inconveniences at present. The government should tell why the new Rs. 500 note is not available even after 20 days of demonetisation? Let the people who are unaware about the banking system and its benefit of keeping money in the circulation for India know that if demonetisation was to help poor then there was no need at all to issue 4/8 times higher valued bank notes. No government in the universe really work for the poor. If the concern was to take action, against the wrong doers in the society, the government is empowered with all mechanism to take appropriate action to weed out the criminals without making common man suffer. Many died while standing in queue outside banks, many committed suicide and bank staff landed in stress.

Finally, why the rich who have swindled the public money via bank loans to the tune of Rs.1.14 lakh crore is still unrevealed to the public, why? Is it to protect the poor? CBI have investigating money laundering cases against many politicians and businessmen for years without causing any harm to the accused, whereas poor stealing just few hundred are beaten to death in some cases. Is the government for the poor? Let all be excused, but India cannot grow with Plastic Money/Mobile apps operated by private sector but only through sound rupee – the Indian Legal Tender.

Anyway, now the government came up with new theory aimed at providing a window to black money holders by proposing to levy a total tax, penalty and surcharge of 50 per cent on the amount deposited post demonetisation, while higher taxes and stiffer penalty of up to 85 per cent await those who don’t disclose but are caught. With the ban on Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes now more than two weeks old, the government has proposed new rules to tax black money that is being unearthed.

The old notes must be deposited in banks by the end of the year. Deposits over Rs. 2.5 lakhs will come under the scrutiny of tax officials. Those who acknowledge that they have placed black or previously untaxed money in their accounts will pay a 60 per cent penalty in addition to taxes. A disclosure scheme called the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) 2016 allows people to deposit money till April by paying 50 per cent of the total amount — 30 per cent as tax, 10 per cent as penalty and 33 per cent of the taxed amount– that is 10 per cent — as Garib Kalyan Cess. So the taxes and levies will equal nearly 50 per cent of the deposit.

Twenty five per cent of the money that remains after taxes will be available to the account holder. The other 25 per cent or rest of the black money that’s being converted will be used by the government for four years in a special new fund that will be called as the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana and will be used to fund welfare schemes. No interest will be paid to the owner for this. Further, the declarants have to deposit 25 per cent of the undisclosed income in a scheme to be notified by the government in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India. The money from the scheme would be used for projects in irrigation, housing, toilets, infrastructure, primary education, primary health and livelihood so that there is justice and equality, said the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill. For those who continue to hold onto undisclosed cash and are caught, the existing provisions of the Income Tax law will be amended to provide for a flat 60 per cent tax plus a surcharge of 25 per cent of tax (15 per cent), which will amount a levy of 75 per cent. Besides, if the assessing officer decides he can charge a 10 per cent penalty in addition to the 75 per cent tax.

For money that is unearthed in raids, taxes and penalties will take nearly 85 per cent of the amount, leaving 15 per cent with the owner. (For cash, whose source can be identified, the penalty will be 30 per cent along with the regular tax rate; for money whose origin cannot be explained, the penalty will double to 60 per cent). The new proposal was brought to parliament on Monday by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. It is almost certain to be cleared in this winter session of parliament because it is being considered by the Lok Sabha, where the government has a huge majority.

Anyway, future is uncertain as no one can guarantee corruption free country. Earlier Rs. 500 note was the least bribe currency now its 2000/-, the dimensions are changed, rest everything is at it ease. We cannot criticize the government whom we have elected.  Now, just because they have been elected and sent to parliament nobody gives them rights to ignore people’s views, complaints or indulge in corruption or ask people to shut their mouth and wait for next elections. If this is the only way common man can have their say (by just casting their vote) let that be more frequent every year or even biannually. Passing Jan Lokpal Bill has become the biggest challenge to the Government and BJP being ruling party is least interested in supporting it. The issue of strong Lokpal has already being dumped in cold storage! Politicians are servants of people who elect and send them to Parliament to make laws. It is the citizen’s right to ask their servants why the Jan Lokpal Bill is not being passed. But under this new Government rule, all those who ask questions are called anti-national.

 (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

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Vaidehi Taman
Vaidehi Tamanhttps://authorvaidehi.com
Vaidehi Taman an Accredited Journalist from Maharashtra is bestowed with three Honourary Doctorate in Journalism. Vaidehi has been an active journalist for the past 21 years, and is also the founding editor of an English daily tabloid – Afternoon Voice, a Marathi web portal – Mumbai Manoos, and The Democracy digital video news portal is her brain child. Vaidehi has three books in her name, "Sikhism vs Sickism", "Life Beyond Complications" and "Vedanti". She is an EC Council Certified Ethical Hacker, OSCP offensive securities, Certified Security Analyst and Licensed Penetration Tester that caters to her freelance jobs.
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