BJD lauds Jaitley's effort to retrieve black money

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday lauded Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's effort to bring back the black money stashed in safe havens abroad.

"The attempt to bring back the black money into the economy is somewhat reminiscent of what was done 20 years ago with VDIS (Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme) is this 45 percent of levy to bring black money in to the economy of the country is a big step," BJD MP Jay Panda told ANI.

"The other steps taken for ease of business are very big things. These are all good steps and I hope this will be properly responded to by the market and the investors," he added.

Panda further lauded the increase of allocation towards rural sector.

"In terms of money going to the gram panchayats directly, on average each gram panchayat would get about Rs. 80 lakhs. In infrastructure side, there has been a massive increase, particularly the highways, I think this is going to be very good for the country in coming years," he added.

The government today came out with one time four-month compliance window for domestic black money holders to come clean by paying tax and penalty of 45 percent.

"I want to give an opportunity to earlier non-complaint to move to the category of complaint. I propose a limited period compliance window for domestic tax payers to declare undisclosed income represented in any form of assets and clear up past transgression by paying tax at 30 per cent, a surcharge at 7.5 per cent, a penalty at 7.5 per cent which is total of 45 per cent of undisclosed income," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said while presenting the budget.

Jaitley said those declaring their assets will get immunity from prosecution.