AHMEDABAD, July 1: Union finance minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday launched the countrywide media campaign for voluntary disclosure of income scheme (VDIS) from Gujarat to widen the tax base, with "lowest ever tax rates and total protection from using the declaration as evidence in any court of law."

Addressing a crowded press conference here, he said he intended to double the number of assesses from 12 million at present to around 25 million in three years.

He said the number was too less for a country of 970 million and it appeared unbelievable when hardly 12,000 people admitted they earned more than Rs 10 lakhs. However, he did not fix any year-wise target for either the number of new assesses to be covered or the amount to be tapped.

Explaining the benefits of the scheme, he said, "It offers the lowest ever tax rate of 35 per cent for companies and firms, and 30 per cent for individuals. Imagine the non-compliance which could invite seizure of 60 per cent of income, plus interest, penalty and prosecution."

"Dr Manmohan Singh had initiated the process of lowering the IT rates and I've brought it to the lowest possible rates in three slabs of 10, 20 and 30 per cent," he said.

The scheme opened today and closes on December 31, 1997. He made it clear that in no case would this scheme be extended.

Allaying people's fears about their likely prosecution in future due to leakage by department officials, he said that such schemes had been launched earlier too, but it never happenned in the past.

One has to declare before a commissioner level officer, may be offered a cup of tea and nobody else would come to know about it.

When asked as to why he did not fix any target for tapping black money through this scheme, he said it was to everybody's knowledge that there had been a massive eviction of tax.

It would be as wild a guess to fix the amount of black money in the country as the Acharya Committee had last put it at Rs 46,249 crore, definite up to the five digits which reads like a fiction.

As to why he chose Gujarat to launch the scheme, he said, "I have a lot of expectations from Gujarat. It is the fastest growing state in the country. People here understand money the best and also the pros and cons of a disclosure scheme. The target for Gujarat was Rs 910 crore for Corpopration Tax and Rs 1,750 crore from IT. This was before VDIS'97 was launched. He expected the Gujarat region would far exceed this target.

He said that in the last budget he had announced two schemes to widen the tax base, while the VDIS' became effective today, the other was compulsory disclosure under section 139 of the IT Act for every individual in 12 notified large cities and their peripheral areas, fulfilling any two of the four criteria -- occupying a house of 800 sq ft or commercial area of 125 sq ft, owning a four-wheeler car, a telephone, or have travelled abroad during the last financial year.

The Union Minister sought the co-operation of respective state governments in making a success of the schemes -- for every rupee thus earned 77.5 paise accrued to the state by providing the figures of sales tax, RTO Wartment is providing sales tax figures, RTO could provide details about vehicles, and municipal corporations about property held.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.