Help windows to demystify taxation

Help windows both under indirect and direct taxes would be set up with the help of NGOs under the umbrella of public-private partnership to demystify the entire process of taxation, said KM Chandrasekhar, revenue secretary, government of Andhra Pradesh.

Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural session of the two-day workshop on 'Procedural improvement in indirect taxes' being organised by Lok Satta at the Dr MCR HRD Institute here on Wednesday, Chandrasekhar said that the government was also contemplating to open single-window facility in the metropolitan cities as well as in Bangalore to facilitate the 6,000-odd tax payers.

P Shanker, chief vigilance commissioner, delivering the inaugural address, said that the recommendations to be made through the workshop were to be practical.

Jayprakash Naryan, president, Lok Satta, said that true vigilance was not punishing and that taxation was the basis of civilisation making everybody a partner and not a criminal.

He said that the truth lies somewhere between 'crooks' and 'no taxation'.

The two-day workshop is being organised by Lok Satta in collaboration with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the Central Board for Excise and Customs (CBEC).