Govt seeks suggestions from industry to simplify taxation

New Delhi, July 13 (UNI) The government today said it is taking all possible steps to simplify the tax system of the country, and asked the industry to come up with suggestions on prevailing taxes system in the country.

''Government is doing everything to simplify tax system in the country. The changes in the budgets are made after taking responses from the industry into consideration. The ministry is open to constructive suggestions to make reforms in taxation,'' MoF Joint Sectretary (TRU) Gautam Ray told reporters at the opening of the two-day workshop on 'CENVAT Rules and Service Tax'.

Denying that complicated legislation in the country was the cause behind over 35,000 pending taxation cases, Mr Ray said about 80-90 per cent of these cases arised because people were either not willing to pay taxes or had missed their deadlines for filling tax returns.

He turned down industry's suggestion to come out with a negative list of services as this would complicate the matters further.

Mr Ray accepted that there is a lot more to be done to further improve the tax system in the country, and called for ''constructive suggetions from the industry rather than rising disputes''.

He also admitted that the tax officials lack adequate training on administring service tax legislation.

He said the government will spread awareness about tax laws by initiating training programmes and outsoursing training activities.

The industry's point of view were presented by Ernst&Young partner Satya Poddar, who stated that a comprehensive GST incorporating CENVAT and Service Tax was a distant dream.

Former CBEC Chief Commissioner T R Rustagi said that there were serious constitutional and political hurdles in bringing about tax reforms in India, and there was no other option but to move gradually.

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