Confiscate black money, says CPI

The Communist Party of India on Saturday asked the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to confiscate black money in India and abroad and act against the guilty as per law.

Referring to reports that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) was contemplating a move allowing people, who had stashed away money in India or abroad, to pay tax plus 45 per cent penalty and convert the money into white, party deputy general secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy said it amounted to betraying the nation.

Court order

“This is a betrayal of the nation. Even the Honourable Supreme Court had commented that stashing away black money in foreign banks amounts to plundering the wealth of the nation. People are wondering whether there is any clandestine understanding between the Congress and the BJP as they also had suggested such a measure. This is not immunity but certainly an amnesty scheme for the black money holders,” Mr. Reddy said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Drawing attention to six previous voluntary disclosure schemes and payment of taxes, he said between 1951 and1997, a total of Rs. 45,925 crore was disclosed leading to tax collection of Rs. 10,521 crore and in the process the government allowed more than Rs. 35,400 crore to be turned into white money.

“It amounts to only 22.9 per cent of tax being collected. The CBDT's present proposal is also a similar one to help the black money holders to change their ill-gotten wealth into white money. Why should the government resort to such methods?” he sought to know.

The CPI leader said for the past three years, the party had been raising the issue of black money and charged the government with being ambivalent.