Income Tax Act in the Finance Bill for 2017 has some unexpected changes. One of those is that officials of Income Tax Department can search an assessee’s property without disclosing the reason for doing so. This is not just unexpected, it brings memories of the dreaded Emergency of 1975. The unholy nexus between corporates and politicians has existed since long. It’s also probably inevitable in a democracy. How else would political parties contest elections and even maintain offices and staff? Still, there should be limits to and transparency in all political donations. Reforms that limit corporate funding and ensure transparency about donors are the way to go. But one proposal in the Finance Bill removes the existing requirement for corporate donors to declare which party they have donated to. Why has transparency been thrown out the window on such an important matter? Even a party as opaque as the Congress has questioned this move. What an embarrassment for the NDA and ...
Posts
Showing posts with the label Finance Bill 2017