President Droupadi Murmu, in her maiden address to a joint session of Parliament on the opening day of the Budget session Tuesday, lauded digitisation efforts and technological advancements which have eased the process of tax refunds, thereby smoothing governance and transparency in the financial sector.
“Earlier there was a long wait for a tax refund. Today, the refund is received within a few days of filing the ITR. Today, along with transparency, the dignity of the taxpayers is also being ensured through GST (Goods and Services Tax),” she said citing income tax refunds, and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme as examples. “Over the years, in the form of DBT, in the form of Digital India, the country has prepared a permanent and transparent system,” she added.
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The President’s address came ahead of Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget presentation tomorrow, the last full budget before the next year’s general election. Praising the Modi government’s ‘vikas’ (development) thrust, Murmu lauded the government’s tax policy and administration and its decision to abrogate Article 370, ‘crackdown’ on terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, the scrapping of the controversial triple talaq, and boosting defence sector exports, among other things.
The president also spoke about how the government is committed to ensuring accessibility to civic amenities for the people, and praised it over matters like the renaming Rajpath in Delhi (now called Kartavya Path) and the leadership of the elite G-20 grouping.
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Hindustan Time’s sister publication LiveMint reported citing the official data that the tax department issued ₹2.40 trillion in tax refunds between 1 April 2022 and 10 January 2023, an improvement of 58.74% year-on-year.
Murmu’s address was followed by the Economic Survey for the Financial Year 2022-23, tabled by Union finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. The survey, authored by Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran, highlighted ‘substantial reforms’ in India’s taxation ecosystem post-2014. It noted that individuals and businesses have benefitted from reforms such as GST, reduced corporate taxes, pension funds from taxes, exemption of sovereign wealth funds, and removing Dividend Distribution tax as these have reduced the tax burden on them.
(With PTI inputs)