Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman praises Bengaluru for tax buoyancy, but says money comes back to State too

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday hailed Bengaluru’s tax payers for their contribution in building the `Viksit Bharat', and said the tech capital is home to income tax department’s faceless assessment for the entire country.

“Bengaluru has now become synonymous with so many different pioneering industries, whether it is IT, global capability centres or the startups,” the FM said, after laying the foundation stone for residential quarters for the income tax department staff members.

The Union Government, she said, had placed a lot of emphasis on Bengaluru. The Modi government, she added, came up with the faceless assessment system for facilitating ease of doing business and making sure that tax assessees were not harassed.


“The faceless assessment system today is well settled and taxpayers find great relief with it. The Central Processing Centre (CPC) of the income tax system, which governs the entire country, is located in Bengaluru. The redressal of grievances has become speedier,” she said.

“The money doesn't go away from Karnataka, it comes back as well,” the FM said in an obvious reference to the state Congress regime’s MyTaxMyRight campaign to exert pressure on the Centre to part with more funds under the tax devolution to the southern state.

“The money comes back to the state for roads, for connectivity, for metro, it comes back for rail, and for the suburban railway system..It comes back for Mangaluru port, it comes back for the 'Kalyana' Karnataka (region) and so on", Sitharaman added.

The city’s tax payers had been “absolutely giving us buoyancy,” the FM said, while acknowledging the contribution of individual and corporate taxpayers in building a strong India.

"Your contribution is relentless. There has never been a dip. So thank you very much Bengaluru for keeping that momentum up", Sitharaman said and mentioned about the investments the government of India was making in Bengaluru and the rest of Karnataka.