What it can however do is to show in an unambiguous manner that it is serious about this time, forget the future. There can be no alternative to it wielding a stick at the same time as holding out the carrot. The entire run up to the VDIS exercise fails to send the message across. If anything, there seems to be soft pedalling on the issue of the tax enforcement machinery continuing with its routine exercises during the pendancy of the scheme. Apparently, tax authorities are being given individual targets for tax collection which are significantly higher than previous records. If anything, this attempt at projecting the iron fist of the government could backfire. Targeting numbers is no way to ensure compliance; legal history is replete with examples where taxmen have wrought havoc with assessments if only to meet their targets. It is another matter that most cases have landed up in the courts. It is only through scientific targeting and air-tight prosecution in a few cases that the message can possibly be put out that there indeed exists an iron fist velvet glove or no velvet glove. Fear is possibly the only key that will make evaders see the good economics in the whole VDIS scheme.
