Efforts needed to improve tax to GDP ratio: Ficci

It suggested that as a first step towards widening of tax base govt may consider making filing of income above a certain threshold mandatory

Alluding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's advice to tax administrators on the need to enhance the tax base, a top industry body stressed here on Saturday that all efforts are needed to improve the tax to GDP ratio.

"Given the development priorities of the nation, it is important that all efforts are made to improve the tax to GDP ratio," Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) President Harshavardhan Neotia said in a statement.

"The government needs more resources to effectively deliver the basic services to the economically weaker sections of society as well as invest more in areas like health, education and physical infrastructure," Neotia said.

"We hope that by leveraging technology and other sources of collecting information such as bank and credit card transactions, the revenue department will be able to garner more resources as well as bring more non-filers within the ambit of the tax net," he said.

The industry body suggested that as a first step towards widening of the tax base, the government may consider making filing of income above a certain threshold mandatory.

"With time such a repository of information could become a useful tool to analyse the nature and source of income and enable the government to identify instances where there exists a clear case for tax liability," Neotia added.