Even as Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik Roshan danced his way to the top of the charts in Bollywood, officials at the income tax department rubbed their hands with glee. At the end of the year, they knew, hed end up paying an exorbitant amount in taxes. They were right. At Rs 15.10 crore for 2006- 07, he emerged as the highest individual tax-payer. The star, sources said, charges in the region of Rs 2.5 crore for featuring in a movie.
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Taxes paid in 2006-07
1. N Raheja 16.50
2. Hrithik Roshan 15.10
3. Shah Rukh Khan 14.00
4. Zia Mody 6.75
5. Akshay Kumar 6.60
6. Sachin Tendular 5.75
7. M H Mody 5.45
8. Dr S Bhattacharya 4.35
9. Nishit Desai 3.15
10. Kareena Kapoor 2.90
11. John Abraham 1.10
Top individual tax payers outgo for 2006-07 (Rs in cr)
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Some individual tax payers suddenly pay huge taxes due to one-time gains. But its mostly film stars and certain professionals who have a track record of consistently paying high taxes, said an I-T official. He was referring to a case in Pune some time ago when an individual surprised the department by paying Rs 6.5 crore in taxes.
But its the film industry that takes the cake in filling up government coffers. Shah Rukh Khan has consistently been among the highest tax payers for years and in 2006- 07, sources said, he paid Rs 14 crore in taxesalmost double what he paid in the previous financial year.
Then there is Akshay Kumar, who paid Rs 6.6 crore for 2006- 07 while Kareena Kapoor gave the department Rs 2.9 crore. John Abraham paid a little over Rs 1 crore and yesteryear star Jeetendra ended up paying Rs 1 crore.
As for cricketers, Sachin Tendulkar paid Rs 5.75 crore. Interestingly, none of the top businessmen who snap up billion-dollar companies contribute much in their individual capacity to government coffers. Generally , businessmen do not pay high taxes as they classify their income as dividend income which is tax-free , sources said.
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