Revenue officers should work to encourage tax payers: President

President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said that Indian Revenue Service officers should discharge their duty in a way that it could encourage honest tax payers as the department had primary responsibility of ensuring tax resources to fund different aspects of national development.

Kovind's suggestion came while he was addressing a group of probationers of the 68th batch of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"As administrators, it is the primary duty of Indian Revenue Service officers to ensure that our country has the tax resources to fund different aspects of national development - be it building infrastructure in rural and urban areas, schools and hospitals, defence and security and so on. They have to discharge their duty in a way that encourages honest tax compliance with minimum discomfort to tax payers," the President said.

Addressing the probationers, the President said taxes have been the building block of governance since ages. "In ancient times, rulers and kingdoms were judged by the kind of tax systems they had."

The President also said that a nation's tax structure should be just, efficient, honest and equitable.

Kovind also praised the Indian Revenue Service for its role in the successful implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

--IANS

sd-rak/prs