Yashwant Sinha accuses P Chidambaram of tax terrorism

Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) leader and former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha has fired a fresh salvo at the outgoing United Progressive Alliance ( UPA) finance minister saying, "Chidambaram would have to be reborn again to match my record as a finance minister." P. Chidambaram had on Friday termed Sinha the worst finance minister ever saying 2000- 2001 and 2002- 2003 were the worst years since liberalisation in terms of growth and then- Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was forced to replace him.

Sinha, on his part, accused Chidambaram on Monday of a mindless reduction in expenditure and the tax administration of becoming extortionist by seeking advance tax from taxpayers. He claimed that the UPA government is leaving an economy which is in a worse crisis than that of 1991 and 1998.

"It will be a major challenge for the new government to deal with it when it assumes office," Sinha added. He also said that Chidambaram is not projecting the right picture in maintaining the fiscal deficit at 4.6 per cent and accused him of resorting to " tax terrorism". Sinha said that the BJP is committed to a simplified tax regime and would, if voted to power, try to hasten implementation of the Direct Tax Code and Goods and Services Tax after a consensus among states. "We are quite confident that these two major tax reforms, if they are carried out by us, will lead to better tax compliance and our receipts will go up," he said.

In association with Mail Today