The government is hopeful to exceed the Rs.736,221 crore revenue target from the direct tax collections in the current financial year, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Monday."We hope that the revenue targets fixed for direct taxes for the current financial year 2014-15 would not only be achieved but would also be surpassed," Jaitley said while addressing the top officers of income tax department here.In the national budget presented in the parliament earlier this month, Jaitley has set direct tax collections target of Rs.736,221 crore for the fiscal 2014-15. In order to achieve the target, the finance minister said the officers of income tax department will have to work with highest standard of ethics. "Credibility of income tax department is its greatest asset, that’s why highest standards of ethics are expected from officers of the department.”
Jaitley was addressing the inaugural session of the two-day annual conference of principal chief commissioners, principal directors general, chief commissioners and directors general of Income Tax. Addressing the conference Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the income tax officials should work in a non-adversarial and non-intrusive manner and find innovative ways to increase tax collections. Das said the officers of the income tax department should work as a facilitator and achieve targets by using fair and transparent means.