Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday said that there is no official estimate of black money in the country.
Anurag Thakur replied in Rajya Sabha after Congress leader Rathwa Naranbhai Jemlabhai asked the government to enlight them on the estimated amount of black money in the country. Congress leader Rathwa Naranbhai Jemlabhai sought the response from the government on four issues:
- Estimate of the total black money in the country.
- Reasons for such an amount of black money.
- Whether it is a fact that this black money is increasing due to a lack of alertness by government.
- The response of Government thereon?
MoS Finance Anurag Singh Thakur while responding to the first two queries said that there is no official estimation of black money in the country. However, he rejected Congress leader's allegation who asked whether it is a fact that this black money is increasing due to lack of alertness by the government.
Further mentioning about steps being taken by the government to crack-down on black money, Anurag Thakur said, "the government has taken several concrete steps to crack down on black money." He also listed out a number of initiatives:
- Enactment of 'The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015' which has come into force w.e.f. 01.07.2015 to specifically and more effectively deal with the issue of black money stashed away abroad.
- Enactment of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 to comprehensively amend the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 with a view to, inter alia, enable confiscation of benami property and prosecution of benamidar and the beneficial owner.
- The Government has brought in a large number of legislative provisions in the Income Tax Act, 1961 to effectively tackle the menace of black money.
- Constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money under chairmanship and vice-chairmanship of two former Judges of Supreme Court.
- Proactively engaging with foreign governments with a view to facilitate and enhance the exchange of information under Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs)/Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs)/Multilateral Conventions.
- Effective enforcement actions and expeditious investigation in relevant cases. Such actions include searches, surveys, enquiries, assessments of income, levy of taxes, penalties, and filing of prosecution complaints in criminal courts, wherever applicable.
- Extensive use of information technology and data analytics tools for identification of high-risk cases, expeditious e-verification of suspect cases and consequential enforcement actions in appropriate cases.
- Mandatory linking of Aadhaar with PAN, which will not only help in de-duplication of PAN but will also prevent potential tax frauds and money-laundering.
