School kids to be made aware of importance of taxes

NEW DELHI - Catch them young seems to be the new mantra of the tax department which wants to ensure that school children grow up to be earnest tax payers in the future.

The Central Bureau of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is formulating a campaign to make children in the 10 to 18 years age-group familiar with the “need for taxation in civil society” and is presently collecting views of the public on the preferred medium for education on taxation.

“The campaign will prepare the future tax payers at an early stage so as to have a far reaching impact on the outlook of children towards taxation,” said an official statement from CBDT, the statutory authority for matters relating to levy and collection of direct taxes and the effective functioning of the income tax department.

“The topics could range from history of taxation, rationale for taxes, how the government raises revenue and spends it, role of government in society and some basic calculations,” it said.

The addition in the curriculum will be made in the syllabus at class 5, 6, 11 and 12 levels. Other options being considered by the CBDT for spreading information on taxes among children include tutorials on CDs and websites, class projects, TV shows, computer and internet games, cartoons, quizzes and essay competitions.

Visit to income tax offices and participation in events organised by the department are also on the list.

India has an expanding tax payer base which has expanded from 271.8 lakh in 2004-05 to 326.5 lakh taxpayers in 2008-09. However, in 2008-09, the total number of direct tax assessees declined by three percent as compared to an increase by 7.6 percent in 2007-08. An amount of Rs.333,818 crore was collected through direct taxes in 2008-09.