Taxpayers base increased after demonetisation: Economic Survey

New Delhi, Jan 29 (IANS) The Economic Survey 2017-18 which was presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that there was an increase in the number of taxpayers post-demonetisation.

“… Taking seasonality into account it is found that there is a 0.8 per cent monthly trend increase in new tax filers (annual growth of 10 per cent),” the survey report said.

“The level of tax filers by November 2017 was 31 per cent greater than what this trend would suggest, a statistically significant difference. This translates roughly into about 1.8 million additional tax payers due to demonetisation-cum-GST, representing 3 per cent of existing taxpayers.”

According to the survey, new filers reported an average income close to the income tax threshold of Rs 2.5 lakh, “limiting the early revenue impact”.

“As income growth over time pushes many of the new tax filers over the threshold, the revenue dividends should increase robustly,” the survey said.

As per the survey, one of the main aims of demonetisation and the GST was to increase the formalisation of the economy and bring more Indians into the income tax net.

IANS