How Congress makes its money & spends it

According to disclosures made by the Congress in their income-tax (I-T) returns, there were two income-tax cases pending against them.

Soon after they came to power in 2004, one of them, a 10-year-old case pertaining to exemption sought by party on foreign donations, was disposed of by the I-T commissioner (appeal) on December 7, 2004.

The case pertained to foreign donations of Rs2.5 crore and Rs25 lakh received by the party in 1994-95 and 1995-96, respectively. The party had sought exemption under the I-T Act while the assessing officer had denied this exemption. The balance sheet of 2001-02 shows that the assessing officer had raised tax demands of Rs1.8 crore and Rs14.79 lakh on the two foreign donations.

There are no documents attached with the ITR’s to show the source of these foreign donations.

In 2002-03, when the BJP was in power, the assessing officer raised this tax demand to Rs2.57 crore and Rs18.12 lakh, respectively. The Congress went in fresh appeal against this raised tax demand to the I-T commissioner (appeal). In 2004, the I-T department finally dismissed the case.

The other I-T case was pertaining to a tax demand of Rs1.44 crore raised by the I-T department in 1993-94. This case has been shown pending in the Delhi high court in 2005-06.

A major source of the Congress’ income has been under the head “sale of coupons” from which the party has managed a massive income of Rs495.86 crore during 2001-06.

The party has, however, not specified what sort of coupons are they. In 2004-05 the tax sleuths had asked the party to produce complete books of accounts, after the party claimed that their tax liability from income that year was nil.

The matter was dismissed to the satisfaction of the assessing officer.

The Indian National Congress, the oldest political party also happens to be the richest party in the political fray.

The party’s worth as reflected in the income tax returns from 2001-02 to 2005-06 has multiplied by almost five times over the five years. The figures disclosed by the party also go to show how power can make a difference to a party’s fortunes.

In 2001-02 the party has disclosed its net worth as Rs44.32 crore which grew to Rs54.36 crore in 2002-03, more than doubled to Rs128.66 crore in 2003-04 (the election year) and further to Rs159.35 crore in 2004-05. On March 31, 2006 the party’s net worth stood at an incredible Rs214.87 crore.

Party’s fixed deposits also show a sudden spurt following the last general elections. In 2001-02 FD’s declared by the party were over Rs30.47 crore, Rs34.35 crore in 2002-03 and Rs44.49 crore in 2003-04. This figure went up almost two and half times to Rs104.73 crore soon after the party came to power in 2004-05 and swelled to Rs 146.64 crore the next year.

The Congress party had shown an income nearly Rs221 crore in 2004-05 which is the highest in all five years. From Rs61.49 crore in 2002-03 the party’s income swelled to Rs 152.90 crore in 2003-04 and further more in the next year.

The party has also shown to have received voluntary donations to the tune of Rs 80.91 crore with almost half of the amount coming in 2004-05 that of Rs41.27 crore. The other big sources of income for the party are interest received: Rs22.92 crore, in five years.