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President’s Message |
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In the background of Satyam’s
episode, a question mark has been raised about the role of the tax professionals
who have to exercise their independent legal discretion without being influenced
by the desire or wishes of client, howsoever, big he/it may be. For achieving success one has to be quite objective as well as fair and impartial to his colleagues, subordinates and to the work itself. When it comes to a professional, because not only entire stake but some time the life of a person is put in the hands of the professional. Hence, the professional’s competence is supreme which can be achieved by having the complete knowledge and information about the subject and the laws in which we are dealing. In the era of globalization and e-technology, entire world has become a global village and we have to get ourselves fully equipped with the latest development in each field of taxation. The economy of our country depends upon augmentation of the resources, for which taxation is absolutely essential. The people of the country pay the taxes and the lawyers encourage them to pay the legitimate taxes to the State. Transparency and accountability are important pillars of democratic governance, and a tax payer who pays the tax from the hard earned income is entitled to know how the Government deploys its funds. The wasteful expenditure on the part of the Government, particularly at the State level is a cause of anxiety for every tax payer. Therefore, the tax payer is entitled to know the various components of non-plan expenditure, the method of accounting and the utilisation of revenue collected by the State. The growth will depend if accountability and transparency is deployed at every level. The members of the legal profession on the taxation side have a very respectable job to perform. Not only they guide their clients and assessees in general, but also persuade and encourage them to pay the legitimate taxes of the State and to point out the difficulties of the tax payers to the Government, so that congenial atmosphere of confidence and mutual trust is created. At the same time, we the members of the Bar have also a duty to see that the Authorities do not act arbitrary or contrary to law and the necessary reliefs are granted to the assessees at the earliest opportunity. (Bharat Ji Agrawal) |