Sunday Sept 26th 2010
Priscilla JebarajNEW DELHI: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's eagle eye has prevented the Nandan Nilekani-led Unique ID project from getting an unprecedented tax exemption.
Highly placed government sources say that when the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 was being discussed by the Cabinet on Friday, Mr. Mukherjee raised an objection to a clause in the draft version which would have exempted the Authority from paying any tax on wealth, income, profits, gains or services. The Minister said that such a clause amounted to an anomaly, which could create an unwanted precedent. The 47th point under Chapter 7, titled Miscellaneous, sought to override the Wealth Tax Act and Income Tax Act, to ensure that “the Authority shall not be liable to pay wealth-tax, income-tax or any other tax in respect of its wealth, income, profits or gains derived.”