Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday criticised the Centre to amend the section 6 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, which stipulates conditions for determining the residential status for tax purposes in India.
"We record our strong disagreement with the move in the Finance Bill, 2020, brought in under the guise of checking tax abuse, but is in reality going to hurt those who toil and bring foreign exchange to the country", said Vijayan in a statement issued here.
"The Central government should desist from going ahead with the amendment to section 6 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, proposing to reduce the stay period for the Indian citizens or persons of Indian origin from 182 days to 120 days, for being treated as residents for tax purposes," he added.
He pointed out that most of the people working in the Middle East from Kerala are having houses and families in Kerala and they visit and stay in their home state to look after their domestic affairs.
"Tax Evasion is not their intention and they do not fall in the category of persons who shift their bases to avoid taxes. Such persons will be hard hit by the amendment to section 6 of the Income Tax Act,1961," added Vijayan.
Vijayan also pointed out that Kerala's economy is substantially supported by remittances, especially from those in the Gulf countries, who will be adversely affected by this amendment.
He, however, pointed out that they have no dispute with the fact that the undisclosed income of those who transfer money to tax havens need to be brought within the tax net and government should utilise such tax proceeds for social welfare programmes.
"This has been our consistent position. But here too, persons working in countries of the Gulf region which have no personal income tax, will be hit. Most of such persons are not in the economic upper crust. They need to be excluded from the ambit of this proposed amendment as they are mostly middle income people who bring to our country a part of their hard earned income," said Vijayan.
According to the latest Kerala Migration Survey conducted by the Centre for Development Studies, here there are 2.1 million emigrants from Kerala across the world, whose estimated total remittances to Kerala stands at Rs 85,092 crores.
For all the latest News, Opinions and Views, download ummid.com App.
Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
Budget 2020: IT rates, slabs changed; those earning up to Rs 15 lakh benefit
Also Read
High flowing couplets in Nirmala's budget do little to ease economic woes
'Who Killed Judge Loya': Protesters in Mumbai demand fresh probe
UK officially leaves European Union after 47-year-long membership
Coronavirus: Precautions you need to take while travelling
Coronavirus: How fear has gripped the world
Women can pray in Mosques: Muslim Personal Law Board to SC
Flag hoisting at Shaheen Bagh, reading of the Preamble across varsities in US on R Day
Republic Day protests against CAA-NRC-NPR in world's 18 major cities
Biryani, Butter Chicken most searched Indian food globally: Study
Watch: Amit Shah's speeches that fuelled anti-CAA protests across India
'When your ancesters were licking boots of British': Awhad tears into BJP govt over CAA
Shaheen School anti-NRC Play: Police arrest headmistress, student's mother
'A state along 1967 border, not economic gains': Palestinians reject Trump's peace plan
'Jerusalem not for sale': Palestinians as Trump unveils Mid East Peace Plan
