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CHENNAI: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has declined to disclose details of her income tax returns under the RTI Act, citing personal freedom and security risk. In her reply to the I-T department, she also said there was no public interest involved in disclosing such information.

Chennai-based RTI activist V Gopalakrishnan had sought details of her I-T returns from the year 2000-2001 to 2010-2011. The assistant commissioner of income tax, New Delhi, who is also the chief public information officer (CPIO), wrote to the UPA chairperson on January 23 as per Section 11 of the RTI Act, 2005, seeking her response to the application. In her reply, Sonia said disclosure of such private information to third parties in guise of transparency in public life would amount to unwarranted invasion of the individual's privacy. The information submitted to the I-T department by an individual was confidential and private in nature and cannot be disclosed as per Section 138 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, she said.

This is the second time that the CPIO has rejected the petition. The application was first rejected without even seeking objection from Sonia. After the appellate authority's intervention last month on Gopalakrishnan's plea, the CPIO sought a response from Sonia. "By not calling for an objection, the CPIO has ignored the possibility of the third party expressing willingness for disclosure of personal I-T information," the authority had said.

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Sonia Gandhi cites privacy, refuses to disclose info on I-T returns

Tax changes sought by big telecommunications companies suddenly stalled in the Senate on Thursday amid questions about the long-term impact to state and local government finances.

The Senate’s Finance and Tax committee completely rewrote the legislation (SB 1060), which companies such as Verizon, Comcast and AT&T have been pushing in order to ensure communications services taxes can’t be collected on certain products, such as downloaded games or home-alarm monitoring service.

The legislation included a controversial provision that would have given the companies freedom to bundle both taxable and non-taxable items into one package with a single price and yet calculate their taxes based only on the hidden prices of the taxable parts. Critics said that could allow companies to deflate their tax bills, by minimizing the internal price of anything that is taxable and maximizing the price of anything that isn’t.

State economists have warned that state and local governments would lose, at a minimum, $35 million a year as companies took advantage of the bundling provision. And one of their analyses showed the savings for the companies and potentially their customers — and the hit to governments — could potentially reach enormous proportions of more than $400 million a year.

With so much uncertainty, the tax committee decided to take all of the tax changes out of the bill and replace them with an 11-member working group that would study the communications services tax and recommend ways to modernize it. The working group’s report would be due before the start of the 2013 legislative session.

“The problem is we just simply don’t know how this is going to impact the tax structure,” said bill sponsor Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, who offered the amendment. “There’s no question that the telecommunications companies actually dispute those numbers. But because of the time frame, what I’ve explained to them is I just need more time to address it.”

A few hours later, the Florida House of Representatives passed its own version of the bill (HB 809), which includes both the tax changes sought by the telecom companies and the proposed working group.

The rest is here:
Telecom tax changes suddenly stall in the Senate

By Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel

2:36 p.m. EST, February 23, 2012

Tax changes sought by big telecommunications companies suddenly stalled in the Senate on Thursday amid questions about the long-term effect on state and local governments' finances.

The Senate's Finance and Tax committee completely rewrote the legislation (SB 1060), which companies such as Verizon, Comcast and AT&T have been pushing to ensure that communications-services taxes can't be collected on certain products, such as downloaded games or home-alarm monitoring services.

The legislation included a controversial provision that would have given the companies freedom to bundle both taxable and non-taxable items into one package with a single price — and yet calculate their taxes based only on the hidden prices of the taxable parts. Critics said that could allow companies to deflate their tax bills by minimizing the internal price of anything that is taxable and maximizing the price of anything that isn't.

State economists have warned that state and local governments would lose, at a minimum, $35 million a year as companies took advantage of the bundling provision. And one of their analyses showed the tax savings for the companies and, potentially, their customers — and the hit to governments — had the potential to reach more than $400 million a year.

With so much uncertainty, the tax committee decided to take all of the tax changes out of the bill and replace them with an 11-member working group that would study the communications-services tax and recommend ways to modernize it. The working group's report would be due before the start of the 2013 legislative session.

"The problem is we just simply don't know how this is going to impact the tax structure," said bill sponsor Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, who offered the amendment. "There's no question that the telecommunications companies actually dispute those numbers. But because of the time frame, what I've explained to them is I just need more time to address it."

Separately on Thursday, the Florida House of Representatives passed its own version of the bill (HB 809), which includes both the tax changes sought by the telecom companies and the proposed working group.

jrgarcia@tribune.com or 407-420-5414

Excerpt from:
Telecom-tax changes stall in Senate

24 February 2012 Last updated at 04:24 ET

India's Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi has refused to furnish details of her income tax, citing "security" concerns, officials say.

An activist, V Gopalkrishnan, had requested the information under freedom of information legislation.

But in her reply, Mrs Gandhi said releasing the information might cause a "financial and security risk".

Mr Gopalkrishnan denied charges of any political affiliation and said he will continue his efforts.

In his query filed to the tax department last December, Mr Gopalkrishnan had sought details of Mrs Gandhi's income tax for the last 10 years, beginning in 2000.

This was done under the country's Right to Information legislation.

But his request was turned down.

He appealed and the income tax department was asked to send a notice to Mrs Gandhi requesting the information.

In her reply to the department, Mrs Gandhi said the disclosure of "such private information to third parties… in guise of transparency in public life would amount to unwarranted invasion of the individual's privacy".

She continued: "There is no case of bona fide public interest involved to disclose such information to third parties."

The tax department said the information sought had "no overriding public interest" and closed the request.

V Gopalkrishnan has the right to appeal.

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Sonia Gandhi rejects tax query

A TV documentary has revealed the extent to which expats in Spain are struggling during the eurozone crisis, with social services and local charities overwhelmed with demand for help

Andrew Sinclair, the BBC political correspondent for East Anglia, spoke to expats living on the Costa Blanca for BBC One's Sunday Politics show, and found that locals are struggling to cope in the recession, due to the pound's depressed value against the euro.

“It struck me there has been a lot of reporting in the UK about the impact ongoing euro crisis is having on holiday businesses and British businesses in general,” Mr Sinclair said. “We have found there is some real hardship out there.”

He told Roundtown News, a local freesheet newspaper, that expats were keen to point out they were not “stinking rich”, a common misconception of Brits living in Spain.

"A lot of people we spoke to were very much working class they didn’t have large fortunes to bring to Spain but felt they could do better for themselves than just living on a council estate," Mr Sinclair said.

While the continued eurozone crisis raises the possibility of an expat exodus from certain areas of Spain, many Brits plan to stay in the area. Property sales are sluggish, as a glut of new build properties in some areas is keeping demand and prices low, while others are unable to return for health reasons. Many are determined to stick it out and hope for an improvement in the economic situation, rather than trade Spanish sunshine for a return to the UK.

"The overall feeling is everyone is having to tighten their belts, mainly because Spain has long ceased to be a cheap place to live," said Jack Troughton of Roundtown News. "Utilities (Santiago: UTILITIES.SN - news) , particularly electricity and gas, continue to rise while extra tax has been put on petrol and diesel, the price already rising because of the fall in the value of the euro."

Some people with money in Spanish banks have started to repatriate their money while younger expats are looking for cash-in-hand work to bridge the gap. Older Britons are relying on an over-stretched social services or charity handouts.

"The British community is doing wonderful work through charities and the charity shops that are found along the whole of the coast," Mr Troughton said. "These help not only British expats but immigrants from across Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD - news) and Latin America who hoped to build a new life here.

"The British consulates are also actively campaigning to help integrate expats and ensure they have access to the town hall facilities and social services they are entitled to receive."

The Sunday Politics Show East is on BBC One, Sundays from 11am.

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Financial hardship taking its toll on Britons in Spain