New Delhi : Reflecting the political unanimity on moves to curb black money stashed abroad, Parliament has passed the ‘Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Bill, 2015’ that will soon become the law after the president’s assent.
Speaking before the Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha, union finance minister Arun Jaitley said that the new law, with stringent provisions, will help “squeeze” black money even as he underlined that the option of ‘compliance window’, which may run for a few months, was not an amnesty scheme. “The world is no longer willing to tolerate tax havens which thrive in secrecy,” he added.
Allaying the fears of the members that the new law would be used to harass Indian students and professionals abroad, Jaitley said that it would not cover those having amounts equivalent to Rs 5 lakh in bank accounts abroad.
Elaborating on the compliance window, the finance minister issued a clarification that was mixed with an ultimatum. “The compliance window will provide an opportunity to people to come clean by declaring overseas assets and paying tax and penalty totaling 60 per cent: it is a taxation which is being imposed on an asset or an income outside. Since the tax has been imposed for the first time, we are giving you a compliance period where you pay 30+30 per cent and then you can sleep well. And then also remember, if you don’t use this compliance window now, time will run out because by 2017 there will be a real time automatic disclosure of information taking place,” he said.
While the bill received support from all political parties maverick lawyer and expelled BJP member Ram Jethamalani had pungent words of criticism for it. “I oppose the Bill for the simple reason that an imperative clause of this Bill should have been that all the moneys which are stashed in foreign banks and in respect of which no disclosure has been made so far shall, by operation of Indian law, vest in the government of India,” he said.
Prefacing his observations with an assertion that he is the only person who has been fighting for the return of black money stashed abroad, the 92-year old lawyer said, “I make no difference between any sections of this House. Nobody has supported me. I found that nobody was willing even to accept this German offer that ‘We are willing to give you; don’t apply under any Treaty; don’t apply under the UN Convention; we have got these names and we are willing to share them. And I am ashamed to say that they didn’t sign the two-line letter,” he said while referring to the BJP.
He had a tough time making his speech as ruling party opposed him vehemently and contested his claim that he should be allowed to speak for at least twenty minutes. But he was cut short beyond his ‘four minute’ mark of the allotted time.
