Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon Tax Administrators to be soft in their approach and not treat everybody as tax evaders. Mr Modi stressed that while there should be respect for the rule of law among all citizens, people should not fear tax administrators.

He said, the foundation of administration should be on five pillars of Revenue, Accountability, Probity, Information and Digitisation (RAPID).

The Prime Minister was addressing the inaugural session of the two-day annual conference of tax administrators in New Delhi yesterday.

Mr. Modi set a target for the taxmen to double the taxpayer base to 10 crore. He also said, the long arm of the law will catch up with those evading taxes.

At the conference titled ‘Rajasva Gyan Sangam’ (Knowledge Conference on Revenue), Mr Modi asked the officials to move towards digitisation to make tax administration efficient and work towards bridging the trust deficit. The two revenue collection arms of the central government, the CBDT and CBEC are jointly holding their annual brainstorming session.