There is an unevenness in the taxes that the salaried class pays as compared to the business class and the government is working on a foolproof technological system to change it, Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said on Monday.

Adhia, who was addressing reporters after attending an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, said in the personal income tax category, the salaried ones are paying more than the business people. He said about 50% of the seven lakh companies filing Income Tax returns show zero or negative income and avoid paying tax.

“In GST, if right now I take the turnover which the composite scheme dealers are showing is exactly matching with what they are showing in income tax in the presumptive taxation scheme,” Adhia told The Indian Express. “But once we have technology no trader will be able to suppress his purchase side, then how will he suppress his sales or turnover side. Even the composition scheme dealers will have no option but to correct turnover in the GST return and the same return he will have to show in the income tax return.”

The finance secretary said the taxpayer base has gone up after rollout of GST since July 2017, PTI reported. E-waybill and invoice matching in the new indirect tax regime will help curb evasion. “GST has a very promising future... Honesty will get a premium in Goods and Services Tax,” he said.

Adhia also said that the selloff in equity markets is because of a weak global sentiment and not because of long-term capital gains tax that was announced in the Union Budget on February 1. Earlier on Monday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had also reiterated that the markets were in a downward spiral because of global factors.