Are you a high-income taxpayer? Get ready for a tea session with PM Modi or FM soon

Are you a high-income taxpayer? Well, you may soon be invited to have tea with Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This is one of the various plans the government reportedly is considering to reward India's top tax contributors towards nation building.

The Modi led-NDA government is looking at other non-monetary incentives as well. The thought behind such a move is to motivate taxpayers to voluntarily pay and help the government collect more revenue, the Livemint reported.

"The non-monetary privileges could involve inviting taxpayers for a special audience with the finance minister or the prime minister. For ordinary persons, an extra financial support from the government means a lot, whereas for the high earners, the extra tax that they pay may be a very small fraction of their total income and may not mean much, going by the principle of diminishing marginal utility," a source told the news daily.

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The goal is to make the tax collection a painless exercise for the income tax department. The program may be presented in the first budget of the Modi government 2.0 and mirrors the ruling dispensation's aspiration to devise a more progressive tax system, where the wealthier ones pay more taxes, the report said.

The plan is being thought out at a time when the revenue department is seeking additional resources for welfare schemes as its revenue receipts collection has been lower than expected.

Also Read: Income tax e-filers drop by 6.6 lakh in FY19

The government on a lot of occasions has thanked the taxpayers. The Income Tax Department issues certificates of appreciation to the ones who pay their taxes dedicatedly.

The Centre had missed the revised Direct Tax collection target of Rs 12 lakh crore for the year ended 31 March. Currently, the individuals who earn between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore a year have to pay a 10% surcharge while those earning above Rs 1 crore pay a surcharge of 15% on their taxable income. Meanwhile, businesses too attract surcharge on incomes above Rs 1 crore.

The newly-appointed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the full Budget for 2019-20 on July 5 in the Lok Sabha. This will be first full Budget of Modi 2.0 government.

Also Read: CBDT rejects report on decline in income tax e-filing, says 18% spike instead