Economic Survey 2018: Demonetisation, GST brought 1.8 million new taxpayers

Analysis shows that new filers reported an average income, in many cases, close to the income-tax threshold of Rs 250,000, limiting the early revenue impact to the Union government

Demonetisation of high-value currency notes and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) brought 1.8 million more people into the income-tax net, said the Economic Survey 2017-18 released on Monday.

The Survey’s analysis showed that 10 million new people filed tax returns between November 2016 and November 2017, compared with 6.2 million during the same period in the preceding six years.

“At first blush, there does seem to have been a substantial increase in the number of new taxpayers,” the Survey said. It