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Individuals, professionals and corporates alike have always had a harrowing time when it comes to calculating taxes, for Indian tax laws are complex, archaic, strangely-worded and difficult to comprehend. Even for the best of experts, the fine print has often eluded the eye. Attempts to simplify the tax regime began under Manmohan Singh in 1992. Yet, 10 years later, tax laws are perhaps more complex than ever before, thanks to constant tinkering by successive finance ministers. Yashwant Sinha may take most of the credit for this, since he has presented more budgets than any other.

This year's budget is no exception. Even as he claimed that the basic tax structures have not been tampered with, Sinha has introduced 146 new clauses in direct and indirect taxes. Says tax expert Girish Ahuja: "This year's budget has 110 new clauses for direct tax which would essentially lead to about 120 amendments in the tax laws. If you include the clauses introduced in indirect taxes and in others like posts and insurance, this could exceed 150." Direct tax amendments due to the budget run into 27 pages and indirect tax amendments about 6 to 7 pages.

Experts feel many of these amendments would achieve little for the government, and only increase paperwork, delays and harassment for taxpayers. Says Ahuja: "This is a U-turn budget where a lot of relief measures announced earlier have been reversed." Adds chartered accountant Kailash Chandra Goduka: "Chidambaram had removed dividend tax because dividend is already taxed at the company level. Bringing it back is fundamentally wrong because of double taxation. Most of the other measures will only add paperwork and complexities in the tax process."

Consider the following. Section 56(2)1b withdraws the exemption on winning of lotteries, horse racing and similar gains. Earlier, wins of up to Rs 5,000 were tax-exempt. With no mechanism for declaration of such income, it's not clear how this tax would be collected. Who will monitor thousands of small wins on the tracks?

The amended Section 197A states that only people with income up to Rs 50,000 per annum can now file Form 15H for not deducting tax at source on their investments. A senior citizen with a pension of Rs 60,000 a year and an interest income of Rs 50,000 has no tax liability because of senior citizen rebate. But the bank will now deduct tax at source on his fixed deposit income. He then has to file returns with the I-T Department and claim refund. More paperwork, harassment, delay.

Accounts of non-corporate assessees are certified by chartered accountants to show that deductions have been claimed correctly. New rules under Section 80(I)A make it mandatory for companies and cooperative societies, who are already audited, to do the same. More unnecessary paperwork and expenses.

The government now allows employers to pay tax on non-monetary perks (Section-192 (1A)). However, it does not allow the employer any deduction on this payment while he gets deduction for salaries. Why should any employer pay this tax then for the employee? This is a meaningless change that keeps the burden on the salary earner.

There are other changes which may even have a negative impact on the government's revenue. Chapter XXC gave the government a pre-emptive right to acquire any immovable property being sold under its market value. This chapter has been deleted. In the absence of proper rules, property prices are likely to be under-stated for registration and stamp duty purposes. The government, in the process, may lose revenue.

There are of course some good changes. Showing of a TDS certificate was mandatory at the time of filing returns. Section 139(9) now gives assessees two years' time to file TDS certificates if returns are filed on time, in cases where the certificate is difficult to collect.For people misusing PAN numbers by misquoting them or using others' numbers, Section 272(B) imposes a penalty Rs 10,000.

Due to large-scale misrepresentation during I-T surveys and search and seizure operations, Section 133A now empowers authorities to impound books even during surveys. Earlier this was allowed only during raids. The earlier rule was open to misuse and books were not offered for scrutiny on grounds of being lost or destroyed by fire. Additionally, Section 132 states that electronic records have to be revealed to the authorities, failing which two years rigorous imprisonment can be ordered.

Under the pressure of showing healthy books of accounts, very few finance ministers have paid adequate attention to simplifying tax rules. As a result, even after a decade of reforms in the tax regime, our laws are as complex as ever. Mr Sinha needs to make them much more Saral.