Direct tax collections have risen by over 44% till November this fiscal. This is 48.18% of the Budget Estimate (BE), he pointed out. The revamped administration of tax deducted at source, refund bankers, tax return prepares scheme, large tax payers unit, e-filing of taxes and business process re-engineering are some of the important initiatives which have brought an unprecedented growth of tax collections, Chidambaram said.

Along with this, voluntary compliance is increasing due to the changed attitude of people towards paying taxes, the minister said. This is reflected in the growth of personal income tax by 42.5% and corporation tax by 46.6% during April-November this fiscal, over the corresponding period of last fiscal, he added.

Due to this change in attitude, the number of taxpayers in the country has also increased significantly. While the number of assesses increased from 301.78 lakhs in 2003-04, to 319.26 lakhs in 2006-07, the number of assesses filing return of income increased from 234.25 lakhs to 275.44 lakhs during this period, Chidambaram said. The number of permanent account numbers (PANs) till 31st October 2007 is 5,74,74,806 and around 8 to 9 lakh PANs are being allotted every year.

Indirect tax collections too are rising sharply. During April-October 2007, indirect taxes grew 15%. Customs duty increased 17.4%, central excise rose 7.6% and service tax went up 36.3% during the period, Chidambaram said.

The various initiatives taken by the Central Board of Indirect Taxesrisk management system for customs, automatic clearance of courier consignment, automation of central excise and service tax, e-payment, streamlining of customs proceduresare some of the major initiatives which contributed to this buoyancy in collection.