Opposition Continues Protest Over Demonetization; Demands combined discussion and voting
By TN Ashok / New Delhi
Amid uproarious scenes of slogan shouting opposition, The Lok Sabha today passed by a voice vote and without discussion the Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) bill which provides tax evaders yet another opportunity to come clean on their unaccounted income post demonetization by paying a hefty 50% tax and parking the remaining 25% of the sum in a lock-in for four years without interest in a government notified welfare scheme for the poor called ” Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana”.
Opposition led by TMC and the Congress trooped to the well shouting slogans when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley moved the bill for consideration as he said it was a follow-up to the demonetization move of the government and the last date for tax evaders to declare their income under the scheme was December 30. So it was important for the bill to be passed before end of day.
The speaker Ms Sumitra Mahajan also appealed to the opposition to cooperate for a discussion on the bill and not to combine it with demonetization as they were separate issues. But an unrelenting opposition led by Congress leader Mallikanjuna Kharge insisted on a combined discussion on demonetization and taxation voting separately on both as the subject was the same. TMC Leader Sudhip Bandhopadhyaya also demanded combined discussion and voting on both demonetization and tax law amendment bill.
The speaker said she had rejected the opposition sponsored adjournment motion on demonetization and that only a discussion on the taxation amendment laws was possible to which the opposition roared in protest . Then various points of order were raised by the opposition with K C Venugopal of the Congress asking how the ruling party got presidential assent for the bill in such short time. “ The government is bull dozing “, he charged as he led the opposition to move its amendments for consideration.
All the opposition amendments were rejected as the speaker said she could not allow or admit them as they had not obtained the necessary presidential assent to be moved in the house. As members persisted in their slogan shouting, the speaker said she desired a discussion precede passage of an important legislation but as the opposition was not in a mood and a congenial atmosphere did not prevail, she was putting the legislation to vote without discussion. The bill was then adopted by a vociferous voice vote by the ruling party benches and slogan shouting by opposition. .
The bill has now to be returned by Rajya Sabha to become law and probably has a small window for passage of about 15 days or so and to get presidential assent to become law to be enforced to give an opportunity for tax evaders to declare their income before December 30 this year.
While moving the bill for consideration, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, demonetization followed a series of steps the government had taken to unearth black money. The tax law amendment provides another opportunity for tax evaders to disclose their unaccounted income and pay 50% tax and come clean. They could deposit the remaining 25% amount in PMGKY scheme for four years though without interest and take it back. They had missed the income disclosure scheme where they had to pay 45% tax on unaccounted income. Since demonetization the tax evaders were adopting illegal means to convert their unaccounted wealth held in terms of high value notes. To prevent this amendments to the taxations law had become necessary, he said.