Bengaluru: If the UPA government returns to power in 2019, one of the many things that will come up for scrutiny is the Angel Tax that the Income Tax department was levying against start-ups, said former finance minister P. Chidambaram, who questioned the manner in which the small and medium enterprise (SMEs) sector was being targeted, adding further to the country's economic woes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ill-advised demonetisation and messy implementation of GST.
"A woman entrepreneur with a handful of employees, for example cannot be treated as a criminal by the IT department, if she fails to pay her taxes," Mr Chidamabaram said, speaking in Bengaluru ahead of a meeting with Congress party officials on formulating the manifesto ahead of upcoming parliamentary polls adding that there are other ways of penalising tax offenders.
"The IT department has been given the same powers as the CBI," Mr Chidamabaram said, adding that people cannot be treated as criminals over non-payment of taxes and talked of the disquiet among SMEs as well as industry leaders on the economic slowdown and lack of job creation.
He also questioned the manner in which the UIDAI card, which his UPA government had introduced to ease the transfer of government benefits and subsidies to the needy, had now become a tool to invade an individual's privacy. Saying the Aadhaar card must not be made mandatory for all transactions, he also said that with the very real prospect of such data being misused, "all personal data would be destroyed," if the UPA returned.
