Members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, cutting across party lines, criticised the present Income Tax regime for relying excessively on what they described as “punitive action” and granting tax officials significant scope for overreach, at a meeting on Thursday (September 3, 2026).
“Why should all income taxpayers be treated as criminals? Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr. The committee also discussed the functioning of technology-driven tax administration and faceless assessment mechanisms. Mr.
At least one member raised the controversy surrounding the latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates, questioning the reliability of official growth figures in the context of former Union Finance Secretary Subhash Garg’s claim that India’s economy expanded by only 2.6% in the June quarter rather than the officially reported 7.8%, according to sources. Mahtab said that the Income Tax Act, 2026, had come into force on April 1 this year and that the committee wanted to assess its impact after five months of implementation.
The panel, headed by BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, met to discuss “Direct Tax Reforms: Simplification, Rationalisation and Ease of Compliance” with representatives of the Department of Revenue in the Finance Ministry and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). “The issue was not on the agenda today, so it was not discussed further,” a committee member said. There is a spate of notices being issued, leaving taxpayers scrambling to prove that they have complied with all rules, while the rules themselves keep changing, sometimes even retrospectively,” a ruling party member said. He said the panel sought to examine whether the number of assessees had increased, whether tax revenues had risen and whether litigation had declined following the changes. “A lot of data has been provided to us today, and it appears that as the economy remains buoyant, income tax revenue has also increased substantially,” he said. Mahtab said assessees continued to face certain operational issues that required corrective measures.
