Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the tax system in the country is becoming faceless and it will give the tax-payer a feeling of fairness and fearlessness.

Launching Transparent Taxation – Honoring the Honest platform through video conferencing in New Delhi today, Mr Modi said, tax administration should solve problems instead of confusing the tax-payer and everything from technology to rules should be simple.

He said, identities of the tax-payer and tax-officer should not matter at all. The Prime Minister said, the effort is to make tax system seamless, painless and faceless.

Listing taxation reforms undertaken by his government since 2014, Mr Modi said the Goods and Services Tax amalgamated dozens of taxes, thresholds fixed for pursuing tax matters in different courts and a dispute resolution scheme brought in to reduce litigation. He said, there is no tax on income up to 5 lakh rupees for individuals and tax slabs for income higher than 5 lakh rupees have also been reduced. He said, India is now among the nations with lowest corporate tax.

Mr Modi said, the taxpayer base at just 1.5 crore in India is very low. He urged those who owe taxes to come forward and honestly pay their dues and contribute to nation-building.

Mr Modi said while it is the responsibility of tax officers to deal with taxpayers with dignity, people should also consider paying taxes as their responsibility.