Honest taxpayers need not worry: Bhattarai

KATHMANDU, Nov 10 - Finance Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has said that the nexus of political leadership, bureaucracy and taxpayers was mainly responsible for the high level of revenue leakage in the country.Speaking at an interaction organized by the Revenue Investigation Department on Sunday, he stressed the need for a ...

He said that a committed political leadership was a must to tackle corruption connected with revenue leakage.

Asking that the current government not be seen as a continuity of the past, he said the government was committed to executing its revenue policy by taking the concerned stakeholders into confidence.

Dr. Bhattarai also made it clear that the honest taxpayers should not worry about the government’s action plan.

During the interaction, business people had expressed concern over the government’s plan to collect revenue at any cost to meet its “ambitious” revenue target. They said that taxpayers had a long experience of being harassed by revenue officials.

Responding to the working papers of the top revenue officials presented during the interaction, acting president of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce Suresh Basnet asked why revenue officials failed to question the intention of officials who hassle taxpayers for their personal interests.

He said that leakage could be controlled if the government implemented a universal billing system in business activities.

President of the National Cooperative Association Dipak Prakash Baskota, however, argued that merchants were evading tax by issuing bills without the names and addresses of their businesses.

Chairman of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FNCCI) tax and revenue committee Pradeep Man Vaidya reiterated that a system of multiple VAT rates was necessary in tandem with India’s policy to serve the interests of genuine businessmen given Nepal’s porous border with India.

“Otherwise, genuine traders have to compete with those who sell smuggled goods,” he added.

Other businessmen attending the interaction also expressed doubts over the government’s assigning “volunteers” to check possible evasion of tax by businessmen saying that the practice had been condemned in the past as encouraging harassment of taxpayers.

Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal and Acting Secretary (Revenue) Krishna Hari Baskota assured the business community that the government would work in coordination with all the stakeholders.

They said that the government would not be deterred in taking stern action against “evil” businessmen.