Arun Jaitley hits back at Arvind Kejriwal over taxation law allegations
Arun Jaitley argued, the govt has tightened the provisions of the Income Tax Act and proposed to levy higher taxes and penalties on tax evaders through the amendments
New Delhi: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley Wednesday hit back at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal after the latter accused him of reducing penalties on tax evaders.
“Factually incorrect statements have been made by @ArvindKejriwal in relation to changes proposed in the Taxation Law. Why should a former IRS officer, @ArvindKejriwal factually misrepresent changes in the Taxation Law?" Jaitley tweeted.
Jaitley cited provisions of the taxation laws (second amendment) bill passed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday to buttress his case. He argued that in fact, the government has tightened the provisions of the Income Tax Act and proposed to levy higher taxes and penalties on tax evaders through the amendments.
Earlier in the day, in a video message, Kejriwal had said, “On 8 November, the PM had demonetised Rs500 and Rs1000 notes. Two days after that on 10 November, finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced that whosoever is found with black money, there will be a penalty of 200%. Now 20 days later, they have announced that there will be a penalty of 10% instead of 200%. They have reduced the penalty," he said.
Kejriwal argued that the government has failed in its attempt to unearth black money.
“What has happened is that people have deposited Rs8 lakh crore in banks while standing in lines. In this amount, no black money has come," he said.
Jaitley countered this, saying the government had not changed the provision of levying a penalty of 200% on misreported income. Further, it has increased the taxes and penalty on undisclosed cash from 30% to more than 80%. Further, it has increased the penalty on income unearthed during search and seizure to 30% from 10% and 20%.
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