Arun Jaitley on demonetisation: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley clarified on Sunday that the government has no plans to impose a tax on the long-term capital gains from the share capital after PM Narendra Modi’s speech was misinterpreted.
“The speech has been misinterpreted in some sections of the media which have started speculating that this is an indirect reference to the fact that there could be long-term capital gains (tax) on securities transactions”, said Jaitley in his statement.
Arun Jaitley on demonetisation: No plans to tax long-term capital gains
Commenting on tax on the long-term capital gains finance minister said, “Now, this interpretation is absolutely erroneous, the Prime Minister has made no such statement directly or indirectly… and therefore I wish to absolutely clarify that there is no occasion or opportunity for anybody to reach such a conclusion because this is not what the Prime Minister said, nor is the intention of the government as has been reported.”
He further said that the demonetisation move has strengthened the banking system in the economy as greater funds are now available with the banks which can be used for the public welfare projects.
“The money that is being deposited in cash form after demonetisation… now the anonymity of that money is gone…Money in the system becomes part of the taxation system too. The long-term benefit of this move is that the shadow, the parallel economy, which was not taxed, of which there was no accounting, which was not answerable, that is now becoming part of the economic system.”
Jaitley assured the masses that demonetisation will lead to a better, bigger and cleaner economy.
Furthermore, the citizens would not be required to pay extra charges for the use of the debit cards and credit cards, however, the merchants will have to pay Rs .25 on transactions under Rs 2000 and Rs .50 on transactions on transactions above Rs 2000 as said by the finance minister.
