The Government was “steadily but clearly” moving towards a less regressive taxation system and removing the criminal angles which are unwanted in every Act dealing with tax issues, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in February.

“Eventually, we hope to have in India a simplified taxation structure, completely reduced rates of taxation, and therefore an easy-to-comply system. So as regards taxation we went in that route.

“Now, if you notice, as we are talking of removing or reducing the personal income tax, we removed the dividend Distribution Tax totally. So every time we are taking a step towards simplifying, we are removing that which is seen as a double taxation, or a regressive taxation,” Sitharaman said during an interaction with traders and industry representatives here on the Union Budget 2020-21.

The Finance Minister, who was accompanied by Finance Secretary Rajeev Kumar, DEA Secretary Atanu Chakraborty, Revenue Secretary A.B. Pandey and SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar, said it was a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reform-mindedness when dealing with businesses.

“We are steadily but clearly moving towards less regressive system.” Responding to queries from the businesspeople, she said it was also the government’s clear cut policy to remove elements which introduce the criminality angle to even a civil omission or commission as regards business laws.