Businesses shouldn't just seek exemptions; help generate revenue: Government

NEW DELHI: Government today said industry should help in generating more revenue instead of always seeking tax exemptions as the country has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios globally.

"I always see industry ask government, 'don't tax us', but never on how industry can help the government in increasing its revenues through taxes. India's tax to GDP ratio is around 16 per cent, one of the lowest globally," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said here at the Nasscom event.

He added that countries including Brazil, Nigeria and Uganda have, in fact, a higher tax to GDP ratio.

Even the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD) has around 35 per cent, he said.

"It is not appropriate for the industry to always talk on taxes and exemptions. You want us to bring down corporate tax, we can, but then you will lose lot of exemptions.

"This will have a lot of effect... Our efforts are to make tax compliance easy and improve ease of doing business in the country," Sinha said.

He agreed however that corporate tax in the country is higher than the ASEAN nations' average "but the government is trying to bring it down".

He also advised IT firms and their executives to inform the government about blackmoney being stashed abroad.

"Now we have very serious punitive measures for people stashing black money," Sinha added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced in Union Budget, 2015-16, that a stringent law will be brought in, providing for up to 10 years imprisonment for concealment of income.

Speaking at the occasion, Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government is issuing various schemes for the government so that the industry finds it easy to conduct their day-to-day operations.