Dissatisfaction towards the functioning of Ministry of Finance , CBDT & CBIC: Letter by a Young CA

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Dissatisfaction towards the functioning of Ministry of Finance , CBDT & CBIC: Letter  by a Young CA

Sharing the contents of a letter written to  PM by a CA. The letter is highly getting circulated in the social Media. The letter is getting support in view of the All India Protest called for the first time on 29th January 2021. Hope the letter reaches the Hon’ble PM of country on whom we all have full faith and confidence.
Tax Adminstration could have been better with matured political leadership at the helm of affairs. GST & Income Tax Working has been messed up by select few sitting at the top of the country.
We look forward for our respected and Hon’ble PM to please trust us, believe in us  intervene & review before you decide for change of guard to make our country to be the 5 Trillion Econony.
 If not you, no one else can do it.
Jai Hind
!! A Taxpayer of India !!
Date – 18/01/21
To,  
Honorable Prime Minister of India 
Shri Narendra Modiji
Subject : Dissatisfaction towards the functioning of Ministry of finance , Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and customs (CBIC).Non extension of Various due dates under Taxation Laws.
Respected Sir ,
Since your speech at Institute of chartered accountants (ICAI)  function post demonetization on 01stJuly 2017 where you held CA’s responsible for ills plaguing financial world , Indian society is convinced that the root cause of all frauds , corruption and problems in India is a Chartered Accountant.Your speech was followed by frequent jibes on ‘Non Tax Compliant society’ by the then finance minister late Shri Arun Jaitley.I wonder why Bankers and bureaucrats escaped your wrath after demonetization and only CA’s were targeted , 70% of whom cannot even afford to set up their own offices of 200 Sq feet on Rent after 5 years in practice.
After your Speech , Chor accountant , Fraud accountant , Scamsters are some of the epithet used liberally for Chartered Accountants even by college and school students who have no idea of what work a Chartered Accountant does.CA’s and Auditors are arrested first in case of any fraud instead of the actual perpetrators.
The government has smartly floated the Idea that late filings happen due to ‘Laziness’ of  CA’s instead of complications ,and overlapping of dates and constant rain of notifications and circulars by bureaucrats.I challenge any bureaucrat to match up the work culture of a chartered Accountant.
Instead  of branding a section of professionals as ‘Lazy and incompetent’ , I hope the government takes note of the CAG report which has castigated these two departments CBIC and CBDT  for the havoc they have wreaked on the populace.
I would hereby humbly submit that CA’s are as good or bad as ordinary citizens and certainly much better than corrupt bureaucrats and politicians who have brought country to devastation , which I believe and trust you are trying to rectify since last 20 years of holding a public office.
Indian Bureaucrats who wield power mainly due to clearing of a not so rigorous exam and protection by law from their ill conceived actions have started treating chartered accountants as leprous dogs.Nothing needs to be said about the ruination brought upon the country by the politician bureaucracy combo.They are bleeding the people everyday since british era.
As a long time follower and supporter of yours since 2002 , I understand the importance of your presence for the country.I have tried my best to defend you and your government whether on social media or social circle , even inviting wrath of friends , family and relatives.
The reason for writing this letter is the arrogant , immature behavior of finance ministry who drunk by electoral success of the Bharatiya janata party which owes more to the reverence of your personality than the performance of the finance minister.
The current Finance Minister and her predecessor late shri Arun Jaitley laid more emphasis on debating skills and putting down people instead of empathizing with their genuine , reasonable demands .
The current Finance minister gives audience to social media trolls for their puerile , nonsensical views on the Indian Economy but does not give value to 41 detailed representations made by 100 year old Tax associations who have the pulse of the ground level work and had put legitimate non monetory demands from time to time.
All Tax professionals demanded was a few days time to file certain forms but our JNU Educated finance ministry took it personally upon herself to fight the very people who support the government.The government fought vociferously in courts against its own people.And now thousands of crores of late fees and penalties would be collected by the government on account of Non extension of due dates.The CBDT issued order contrary to the spirit of what the Honorable high court judge wanted.
Many small time Tax professionals like me are contemplating shutting down of our practice which we build bit by bit over 7 years.
Income tax department is persisting with vulgar arrogant display of statistics of filing , refunds and processing which goes against the essence of its own circulars of past.All these filing statistics owe credit to Tax professionals who have been working incessantly , day and night , with whatever means they have at their disposal and Income tax department shamelessly claims credit for higher filing numbers.No one showers flowers on them , nor are they considered as ‘Corona warriors’.On the contrary they are treated with utter contempt.
In the GST department, bureaucrats are having a jolly good time and lots of I Phones are  being demanded for refunds and assessments.Due to E assessment , Bribe base has reduced but Per capita bribes have spiraled sky high whether in Income tax , Customs of GST or any other department.
The government is strangulating ordinary citizens , the very same citizens who funded the free trip of covid migrant trains ,free food to poor and Rs 6000 per head to farmers.To understand our problems in detail , refer to the various representations submitted by various tax bodies from time to time.I would not like to repeat the same over and over again as this letter is only for expressing my anguish.
Like you , I am a person who is deeply inspired by the hindu culture and draw my inspiration from Itihas , Puranas and Teachings of Sages and seers.I would urge you to consider the teachings of Bheeshmaji in the Shantiparva where it is repeatedly stressed that Taxes ought to be collected in a manner which does not hurt the taxpayers.Traders and professionals are not enemies of the nation and there has to be balance in excercising the penal provisions and Tax administration should focus on reducing hardships of people.Collect taxes like a Bee collects honey from flowers.
I hope we run the administration of the country based on principals elaborated by Sages and Seers and not on the the whims of  British Era , Deracinated (un) Civil servants who mislead the public and politicians alike.
Thanking you,
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