The Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) has said the direct tax collection targets for the country have been set at Rs 4 lakh crore of which 2.8 lakh crore have already been collected so far.

“We are going to put in serious efforts and achieve the mark of Rs 4 lakh crore,” said S S N Moorthy, chairman,(CBDT) at CII event on Friday.. Moorthy further added that the tax collection targets for Mumbai have been set at Rs 1.42 lakh crore of which Rs 1 lakh crore has been collected so far. He however confirmed that it would not be advisable and possible to abolish the wealth tax.

“Even in western countries, the Estate Duty is collected which is similar to the Wealth Tax in India,” he said.

Commenting on the Union Budget 2010, Sunil Mitra, revenue secretary, ministry of finance, said that the Budget clearly showed the government’s vision of becoming a facilitator from enabler through increasing budget outlay for infrastructure development.

“The strong message that is coming up from the Budget is that the government is now going to become a facilitator as it earmarked Rs 3 lakh crore for the development of physical and social infrastructure. Moreover, increase in public equity in four companies like, NTPC, REC etc in the previous year showed government’s commitment towards the disinvestment raising Rs 13,000 crore.