CBDT Celebrates Journey of 150 years - 1860 to 2010

THE CBDT is truly excited and fully geared up to celebrate 150 years of income tax in India. The Governor General of India accorded to the bill levying the tax, introduced by James Wilson, the first Finance Member in Council, on 24th July 1860. The 150 years of income tax, spanning 3 centuries, have witnessed tremendous global changes. The Income Tax department has traveled this journey by mobilizing resources, from a meager Rs.1.33 crore in 1860-61 to about Rs.380 thousand crore in 2009-10. These revenues have constituted a vital component in the resources used by the Government of India to lift the people out of abject poverty, disease and misery and propel India into the frontiers of strong and self-reliant nations. In the 150th year, the Income Tax department rededicates itself to the people of India with the avowed objective of mobilizing optimum resources to build a modern, developed, vibrant and prosperous nation.

At the close of the first decade of this century, the role of the Income Tax department has radically altered and needs redefining. The department needs to address the rising expectations of taxpayers through innovative use of technology and modern management skills to ensure equity, transparency and efficiency in delivery systems. The Citizen’s Charter 2007 has, accordingly, been revised and will be released by the Finance Minister tomorrow. The Charter reflects the best endeavour of the Department and is expected to meet the aspirations of the people of India.

A short documentary film on the journey of 150 years of income tax, anchored by actor Om Puri, will be shown and the third volume of the book “Let Us Share” will be released during the function.

The soul of the country speaks through its art. On this historic occasion, an artists’ workshop was recently organized in Kolkata to ponder and reflect on creativity in the field of resource mobilization. Several eminent artists, including Dhiraj Chowdhury, Ganesh Haloi, Prakash Karmakar, Jogen Choudhury, Wasim Kapoor and Sunil Das joined artists in the Department, Bratati Mukherjee and Prasanna Kumar Dash, in bringing forth 40 paintings of outstanding quality. An exhibition of these paintings, along with other expressions of creative outpouring by personnel of the department, will be organized at AIFACS, New Delhi from 25th to 30th July 2010. The exhibition will be inaugurated by Smt. Suvra Mukherjee in the company of several other renowned artists of different parts of the country tomorrow at 6:30 PM.