Thursday, May 5 2005 20:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Assuring that there would be no harassment while administering the Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT), Finance Minister P Chidambaram today (May 5, 2005) said that the Government was willing to simplify it further if there was any unexpected difficulty in its implementation.

"Allow it operate. If there are unexpected difficulties, we are here to address those problems," he said winding up the discussion on the Finance Bill 2005 in the Rajya Sabha.

The Bill was later returned by a voice vote marking the completion of the three-stage budget exercise in Parliament.

He said that Government was confident of achieving objectives of the banking cash withdrawal tax but promised to reconsider it if it failed to meet the purpose of curbing black money generation.

"The objective is not to raise revenue but establish tax trial. I am confident we will succeed. If we fail, we will reconsider," he said.

He said that the Finance Bill was a "reasonable package and we have given concessions, we have given exemptions. We have made adjustments wherever there was valid criticism. Necessary corrections were made in the cash withdrawal."

"Hum Hai Naa", Chidambaram said adding "We are all here. We will address the problem, if there is any" on these two new taxes, which were widely criticised by members during the debate.