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Kathmandu Thursday January 24, 2002 Magh 11, 2058.
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Assessing income
It is encouraging to see the commitment shown by
Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat who has put some order into collecting taxes. It is a
very good idea to cross-check the register of vehicles, Nepal Telecom, etc to assess the
income of potential tax-evaders. But Dr Mahat should start cleaning up his place first. A
junior partner of a big auditing firm in the capital told me that "there is
practically no filing of income statements that happen without having to pay some under
the table money to some officers of IRD". A big tax payer paid two hundred thousand
rupees as tax arrears and was issued a receipt for less than half the amount. This seems
to be a common practice. Moreover, because of incompetence or outright malicious scheming,
these corrupt individuals interpret arbitrarily the tax laws putting the potential tax
payer in difficult situations so that he is more than happy to pay them to clear his
record. How can Dr Mahat expect anyone to voluntarily disclose one’s income in such
an environment? I suggest our Finance Minister to do a private and discreet enquiry with
the auditing and business firms of the capital to understand the magnitude of the problem
and then to take action accordingly. Giving some exemplary punishments will go a long way
to successfully fight against corruption, the greatest evil of our nation.
KB Rimal
Kathmandu |
