Business
Standard ( 11 Oct 2016 ) carries a news report titled :
Black
money disclosure gives tax cushion: FM
It further reads :
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
" As much as Rs 65,250 crore of undisclosed assets
were brought to light during
the four-month ONE-TIME
COMPLIANCE window that ended September 30, yielding the
government Rs
29,362 crore in taxes, half of it in the
current financial
year.
Shri Jaitley said the BJP led government has in the last two-and-a-half years
taken steps
to curb BLACK MONEY and the first
decision it took after assuming office was
to constitute the Special
Investigating Team.
" Every decision we have taken is to try and make India through PERSUASION ,
through LAW , through
COMPLIANCE opportunities and even through FEAR...a tax-compliant
nation.
" After all, payment of taxes is necessary if we are to eliminate poverty.
Payment of taxes is necessary if rural
India is to develop.
These are all made for a positive national purpose," he
said.
He said every person who evades taxes is not discharging his
national
obligation. "
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I hope you have noticed those words , which I have shown in
CAPITAL letters , viz :
PERSUASION / LAW
/ COMPLIANCE / FEAR
Now consider this :
* Of that Rs 65,250 Cr of " undisclosed assets " ,
no more than Rs 9,000 Cr
worth got disclosed " Voluntarily
"
through
PERSUASION
* Remaining Rs 59,000 Cr worth of assets were recovered
through " Search
and
Seizure " operations carried
out at the office and residential premises of
the tax-evaders ( nothing "
Voluntary " here ! )
* That means , some 90 % of the recovery was due
to FEAR !
* May be , it was only FEAR that motivated 90 % of those 64,000
tax-evaders
who opted for the scheme
Now , depending upon which expert source you like to consult , BLACK MONEY,
* siphoned away ABROAD by Indians during
2005-14 , is Rs 35
lakh*crores
* stashed away LOCALLY ( in vaults /
land / gold etc ) is approx Rs
30
lakh*crores
" Given that India's GDP in 2016 is expected
to be USD 2.3 trillion, the size of
India's black economy is
approximately USD 460 billion (over Rs 30 lakh crore), which
is larger than
the stated GDP of emerging markets
like Thailand and Argentina { Source : Ambit
Capital Research } "
So , what IDS ( Income Disclosure
Scheme ), has managed to recover ( mostly
through " Search and Seizure "
operations ) is barely 0.5
% of the total BLACK MONEY . And only
through FEAR !
And that " Search and Seizure "
operations , must have cost the government ,
some Rs 65 crores , considering
* the number of IT and
Police officers involved , over the 4 month period (
Salary + Travel + Admin
expenses )
* the cost of that
massive advertisement / publicity campaign unleashed
* the time of the officers
of various govt ministries
Now , employing schemes
like IDS , if we want to recover , not mere 0.5 % but
the entire 100
% of the BLACK MONEY , how
much would it cost and how long
would it take ?
I leave it to your guess
But
, if my following suggestion were to be implemented ( - I have not given up
for
past 2 years ) , then it is possible to convert these Rs 65 lakh*crores worth
of BLACK MONEY into
WHITE MONEY (
without LAUNDERING
) , for less than Rs
65
crores and in less than ONE YEAR :
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 8 August 2016
Help ! please , rescue me
!
You would expect this kind of a cry from an innocent person ,
locked up behind bars
But can you make a currency note of Rs 1000 / Rs 500 , locked up in a bank locker or a
home cabinet , to cry out :
" Please , liberate me ; I am held
hostage by a black marketer "
For over 2 years , I have been saying that making high
denomination currency notes to " declare their locations ", is not
only possible but that it is the ONLY PERMANENT FOOL-PROOF way , to eliminate from our economy ,
the twin scourge of CORRUPTION / BLACK MONEY
Those who still have some lingering doubts about both , the
feasibility and the inevitability of my suggestion, may want to read the
following news report ( DNA / 08 Aug 2016 ):
SMART DRESSING
Scientists are developing a novel technology for smart clothes
that would contact charity shops or auction web sites like eBay when they are
not worn regularly
THE TECHNOLOGY
Researchers from Birmingham City University plan to create an
" Internet of Clothes "
that tags garments using washable contactless technology , known as Radio Frequency Identification ( RFID )
WASTE NOT , WANT NOT
Researchers said, users can now move away from the idea of
ownership of clothing, to use them as long as they need them
HOW IT WORKS
Step # 1 : Users will receive a tweet and
message every day from the clothing asking to be worn
Step # 2 : Forgotten items in the wardrobe will
text owners to remind them they are gathering dust
Step # 3 : If the notifications are ignored by the
user, the garments will get in touch with a clothing charity
Report in newspaper " Business Line " adds :
" Think of the surprise when an owner
suddenly receives bids for items they did not know were in their wardrobe "
Now in India , the owners / hoarders of crores of BLACK
MONEY , are unlikely to
forget how many of Rs 1000
/ 500 , currency notes they have stashed away - and precisely where !
But , if those notes were embedded with RFID micro-sensors
( thinner than human hair ) - as repeatedly suggested by me - then those owners
would certainly get surprised ( albeit , unpleasant ! ), when they receive an SMS from the Income Tax
Department / Enforcement Directorate , saying :
" Please , explain the source of 10,000 currency notes of
Rs 1000 each , located in your Bank Locker / home
cabinet , at GPS
located address, XYZ
( or different nos at different locations )
Of course , if you disclaim its ownership and surrender these
amounts within 24 hours, for
productive use by the nation for building infrastructure - and , thereby create
millions of jobs , we will not prosecute you "
MY LOGIC
If clothes remaining unused ( for a long time ) want to become
" useful " by being offered for charity , then why not provide the
same advantage to Rs 100
lakh*crores worth of high denomination currency notes, lying unused in bank
lockers / home cabinets ?
Surely , these notes do not like to be held " hostage /
remain unused / gather dust " and would want to move , from
hand-to-hand , by free circulation in MAINSTREAM LEGAL ECONOMY !
Whereas yesterday's passing of GST Constitutional Amendment Bill
in Lok Sabha , is no doubt a great reform , it will be , at least 3 years
before we see its positive impact on our GDP ( ignoring the fact that it took
10 years of debate / discussions / persuasions to reach this stage ! )
But , on the other hand embedding RFID sensors into high denomination currency notes
would need,
# No
discussions ( since, no political party would want to appear to be protecting
the black money ! )
# No
passing of any Bill in the Parliament
And its impact on the economy / GDP , will
become visible within 3 months of its implementation
[
http://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2015/11/network-of-currency-notes.html ]
Shri Narendra Modi often says , " I like to experiment and take bold ,
out-of-the-box decisions "
This is one decision that the generations of Indians to come,
will remain to him grateful for !
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11 Oct 2016
( Dushera / Vijaya-Dashmi )
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
