The Income Tax Department should pull up its socks to "maximise" revenue collection and enlarge the basket of tax-paying people in the country, the newly appointed chief of the CBDT said in his first communication to officials.
P C Mody, the new chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), has asked the taxman to make special efforts in redressing the grievances and the issues faced by "small taxpayers", and work with greater transparency and accountability.
The central government had earlier this month appointed Mody as the CBDT boss and he took charge of the policy-making body of the Income Tax Department on February 15. He succeeded Sushil Chandra who was appointed as an election commissioner.
"Our immediate priority will be maximising revenue collection. We need to widen and deepen the tax base, ensuring simultaneously, the optimum utilisation of physical as well as human resources," Mody said in an official letter to the regional chiefs of the tax department across the country.
The February 26 letter, which has been accessed by PTI, adds that the exercise to enlarge the tax base in the country "must be done without any harassment or high handedness on the part of officers or officials."
He said the "timely delivery of quality taxpayer services shall be another prime area of focus (for the department)."
The CBDT chief said he shared the vision of "in dreams, begin responsibilities" with his officials and that it would be his aim to improve the image of the I-T Department and "contribute towards nation building."
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