Tax compulsory, business actvities to be transparent: Finance Minister Dr Khatiwada

Finance for Finance, Dr Yubaraj Khatiwada, has said the government was active to intensify the pace of development by ensuring social security to the citizens by collecting tax through a healthy tax administration.

In his address to a management seminar organised by the Inland Revenue Department here today, he said efforts for improvements were going on in terms of making the tax system more systematic. He assured that there was no need for business community to panic from the improvements in tax system.

The Finance Minister insisted that business activities should be transparent and competitive and improvement attempts were underway to establish an impartial and ethnical administration mechanism. "Situation has been created for more citizens coming under the purview of tax. Tax is tax and it must be paid, even against the will, that's why, the PAN (permanent account number) has been sought," he underscored.

It would be obviously challenging in the initial days to establish a system, he said, adding that strengthening of revenue was the focus of the government as it wished to pursue a strategy of reducing dependency through the maximum utilization of resources in its bid to take the country ahead in terms of development and prosperity. Stating that transparency was maintained in an institutional income system and a scope of tax in unproductive and individual sectors was being expanded, he said, "The tendency to waive tax on the basis of personal intimacy or taxpayer's stature should be ended. Tax administration should not fear the businesspersons. There is no way to increase the taxation rate but its scope should be increased gradually."

Responding to the queries on the tendency of big enterprises not keeping track of 13 per cent taxation, he remarked that the financial sector in Nepal was witnessing huge change lately and due to increase in revenue collection in the recent years, high revenue collection was recorded in three years in a row.

Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Lal Shankar Ghimire, said that seminar was organized to gather information on what measures could be adopted to reform the tax sectors so as to encourage the private sector to pay the taxes.

FNCCI Vice-President Kishor Pradhan pointed out the need to reform the tax administration. He opined that country could make a leap economically if the government moved ahead taking the private sector in its confidence.

Nepal Chamber of Commerce President Rajesh Kaji Shrestha drew the attention of the movement towards industrial development which, he argued, could reduce the import. Shatish Kumar Moor of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries urged the government to enable environment where the taxpayers were honoured and encouraged.

More than 70 undersecretaries of various offices under the Inland Revenue Department are taking part in the two-day seminar.