On 29 April 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced - for the first time ever in India the release of income- tax data, which follows economist Thomas Piketty’s call for income-tax data transparency.
The data revealed by Central Board of Direct Taxes have five highlights in which only 3.81 per cent Indians come under income-tax assessment As many as 48 million individuals were tax assessees* in the assessment year (AY) 2014-15, or 3.81 per cent of India’s population.
The data further reveal that only 1 per cent Indians actually paid tax in the AY 2012-13, and there were just 1.33 million income-tax assessees in India declaring income of more than Rs 10 lakh per year.
Even, just two of the 29 states and seven union territories account for 53 per cent of India’s direct tax collections. Maharashtra paid Rs 2.7 lakh crore as tax in FY 2014-15, 40 per cent of all tax collections, followed by Delhi, Rs 91,247 crore, about 13 per cent of total.