Tax illiteracy is no solution for budget deficits
Dear Mr Chidambaram, You have been globetrotting to convince the world you are dead serious about budgetary prudence, limiting your fiscal deficit to 5.3 per cent of GDP in 2012-13. You have also promised an investment-friendly climate to attract foreign investment. Alas, your first objective is, unwittingly, sabotaging the second. Your tax officials are so desperate to collect revenue (to reduce the fiscal deficit) that they are issuing tax demands that defy logic. This can only discourage investment.