Letters: Focus on disclosure

Apropos A K Bhattacharya's lucid and logical article, "Black money and the PAN" (December 23), four points become clear.

First, the Narendra Modi government has indeed followed up its election promise of chasing black money abroad, but obviously the promised figures were inflated - like most election propaganda is - and the reality is unlikely to be anywhere near that.

Second, there is no change in the approach and attitude of our tax authorities: businessmen continue to consider them "overzealous", which is not a good sign. One would have expected Modi's pragmatism to rub off on the tax department also - as it has to some extent on the bureaucracy. Business leaders' desire to relocate abroad is not a positive consequence of the taxman's drive.

Third, and perhaps most important, corrupt bureaucrats and politicians are responsible for the bulk of the black money in the country. The initiative of the Modi government to unearth black money must continue, irrespective of the Opposition's views on the matter.

Finally, a combination of increased credit card use and PAN link-up for transactions above Rs 1 lakh should become mandatory. It is not prudent to increase the limit for PAN disclosure to Rs 2 lakh. Even if the mechanism for analysing the data collected is not in place, the very requirement of PAN disclosure would deter those with nefarious plans.

Krishan Kalra Gurgaon

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