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Millionaire taxpayers decline 20%

Subhomoy Bhattacharjee

Contrary to earlier projections, the revenue department has found that the number of income-tax payers in the highest tax bracket has fallen 20 per cent in the last one year.

More astonishingly, 80 per cent of the non-salaried income-tax payers in the country have claimed an annual income of less than Rs 100,000.

As per the latest statistics on income tax returns collected by the revenue department, the number of people in the country with an annual income of above Rs 1 million per annum has dipped to about 46,000 in 2001-02, from around 57,800 in 2000-01.

The department has admitted that the drop has been caused by the unsatisfactory one-by-six scheme that was supposed to augment the number of taxpayers in the country.

An analysis of the figures show the problem is caused by the under-reporting of income by the non-salaried class, including Hindu undivided families.

Of the total 30 million taxpayers, the salaried class constitutes a little less than 10 million, while the non-salaried class constitutes only 11.8 million. The rest are accounted for by stop filers, firms and companies.

Of the non-salaried group, only 25,000 people have declared an annual income of more than Rs 1 million. Even in the Rs 150,000-500,000 range which, at 28, has the maximum percentage of salaried people, the percentage for non-salaried class is only 8.34 per cent.

The figures are sombre compared to the stiff target set by the finance minister for the department -- of increasing the number of income-tax payers in the country to 50 million by the end of fiscal 2003-04.

This means the department has to garner at least 10 million assesses by the end of the current fiscal -- a target rise of around 33 per cent, which is a steep one. The brass of the department is worried this would be difficult to attain without going after the non-salaried class.

The actual achievement under the one-by-six scheme during 2001-02 works out to an addition of only 5.5 million assesses, which translates into a growth rate of only 23 per cent.

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