Anantapur :Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the GST and simplified income tax introduced by the Central government have resulted in record tax collection.

Modi said this after inaugurating the new campus of National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics (NACIN) at Palasamudram village in Sri Sathya Sai District.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister expressed confidence that the new campus of NACIN would create new dimensions of good governance and give a boost to trade and industry in the nation.

“We gave the country a modern system in the form of GST and simplified income tax and introduced faceless assessment. All these reforms have resulted in record tax collection”, Modi said.

“We are returning people’s money through various schemes’, ” he added, stating that the IT exemption limit was raised from the income of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 7 lakh. Tax reforms after 2014 have resulted in tax savings of about 2.5 lakh crore rupees for the citizens,” the PM said.

“The number of taxpayers is consistently increasing in the country as they feel happy that their tax money is put to good use,” he stated.

Modi also highlighted the special attention paid to the optimum utilization of resources, pointing out to the past UPA government which tended to stall, shelve and divert projects causing huge losses to the nation.

He said that in the last 10 years, 10 crore fake names have been weeded out of the documents. “Today, every paisa reaches the bank account of the beneficiary who is entitled to it. Fight against corruption and action against corrupt people has been the priority of the government”,the Prime Minister said.

He underlined that the positive results of this belief can be witnessed in the development works carried out in the country as he apprised the nation about the latest report released by NITI Aayog yesterday which states that almost 25 crore people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 9 years by the efforts of the present BJP government.

Modi expressed the belief that the poor of this country have the potential to defeat poverty if they are given the means and resources. “We can see this becoming a reality today”, he added, stating that the government spent on health, education, employment and self-employment, and increasing the facilities for the poor.

“Poverty can be reduced in India, this is going to fill everyone with a new belief and will increase the confidence of the country”, he remarked.

The PM credited the reduction in poverty to the rise of the neo-middle class and the proliferation of the middle class.

AP Governor Justice S Abdul Nazeer, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, among others were present on the occasion/

Modi earlier took a walkthrough of the exhibition showcased on the occasion and interacted with Officer Trainees of the 74th and 75th batches of the Indian Revenue Service (Custom & Indirect Taxes) as well as officer trainees of the Royal Civil Service of Bhutan.

The Prime Minister also visited the Veerabhadra Temple in Lepakshi and offered prayers.