Survey asks the government to address tax uncertainties, do away with licencing

The Economic Survey has asked the government to reduce compliance burden on businesses, reduce tax uncertainty and complexity and have asked them to do away with licensing to attract the investment and allow businesses to grow to their full potential.

“The Licensing, Inspection and Compliance requirements that all levels of the government continue to impose on businesses is an onerous burden,” the survey said, adding that the government can do it “by letting go of its grip in areas where it does not have to”.

The survey also says that investors seek tax certainty and a simple and certain tax regime will help it to attract investment in the future.


“While the impressive strides were made in the last decade, the uncertainties and interpretations related to transfer pricing, taxes, import duties and non-tax policies remain to be addressed,” the survey said.

It added that the compliance burden is still a lot heavier and the burden is felt more acutely by those least equipped to bear it – small and medium enterprises.

“It holds them back, leashes their aspirations, and, in the process, holds the country back,” the economic survey said, adding that we will never know the counterfactual “what it might have been”.

Tax reforms, less compliance burden and reduction of tax litigation remain a key expectation of India Inc from the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman who will table the first budget of the government elected for the third time in the row.