Congress leaders have said the party is being targeted.
New Delhi:
Congress’s claims of ‘fiscal terrorism’, based on new communications from the Income Tax Department, have been strongly contested by sources in the government agency, who have pointed out that incriminating material has been seized and assessment proceedings are now underway as they have been March 31st of this year.
The sources said the Congress was aware of the proceedings and had been given sufficient time to respond, including during the hearings in the Delhi High Court, which had denied the party exemption.
The Congress, which had earlier claimed that its bank accounts were frozen after income tax authorities imposed a penalty of Rs 200 crore, had on Friday said it had received a fresh tax bill from the ministry amounting to Rs 1,800 crore.
The new notice covered assessment years 2017-18 to 2020-21 (financial years 2016-17 to 2019-20) and included penalties and interest.
Officials said income tax investigations in April 2019 had revealed cash receipts of Congress from Megha Engineering – which has emerged as the second largest donor in the electoral bond scheme – and others. This, they claimed, was discovered during raids on associates of Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.
The total cash receipts between 2013 and 2014 till April 2019 amounted to Rs 626 crore, the officials claimed, and included proceedings in an alleged corruption scam.
“These receipts have been identified and confirmed in multiple ways, including documents found during searches, WhatsApp messages and recorded statements,” an official said.
Under Section 13A of the Income Tax Act, money received by a political party is exempt if certain conditions are met, including not accepting amounts above Rs. 2,000. Because Congress violated those terms, it became liable to pay taxes on all of its income, the officials said.
“The reason Congress was able to get a reprieve is that the Income Tax Department presented to the court detailed, corroborated evidence contained in the records. If the Congress party thinks it is innocent, it should release the entire attack warrant to the public and the truth will be revealed,” said a source.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed four petitions filed by Congress challenging the income tax reassessment proceedings initiated against Congress for the fiscal years 2017-18 to 2020-21.
‘Be focused’
On Saturday, the Congress said its leaders had received two more tax returns, apart from the demand of Rs 1,800 crore. Youth Congress workers also held protests in Delhi against what the party has called the BJP-led central government’s ‘tax terrorism’.
“Congress is being targeted and we are receiving repeated communications. We received two more notices on Friday evening. We received four notices when we held the press conference yesterday and received two more later. I don’t know how many more will follow. sent,” senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the notices are proof that the BJP is “afraid” of the Congress and the INDIA alliance. “The BJP has understood that they will lose the elections, so they are trying to create all kinds of fear. I also received an income tax return last night regarding a settled case,” he claimed.