The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley asked the Indian Revenue Service (IRS-Customs &Central Excise) officer trainees to be both firm and fair in their dealing with the tax assesses. He said that they have to maintain a fine balance between what taxes are to be charged and what not to be charged. The Finance Minister said that those officers who are the face of Government before the public have to be acceptable. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley was speaking after inaugurating the Professional Training Programme of 66th Batch of Officer Trainees of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) (Customs &Central Excise) here today. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley further asked the officer trainees to abreast themselves during the 18-month long training programme with the new regime of indirect taxes especially after implementation of Goods & Service Tax (GST). He asked the trainees to maintain high level of ethics, morality and credibility in public life.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of State for Finance Shri Jayant Sinha asked the IRS officer trainees to work hard with integrity and have a mind set of serving the people with integrity. They must keep in mind that they are public servant and try to provide best possible costumer service to make the life easier for people at large. He asked them to use latest tools of technology in efficient discharge of their duties. He called for the need of raising the tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio in the country which is quite low at 15.5% while in case of developed countries, it is above 30%. He asked the officer trainees to remove the bottlenecks at the structure level in order to improve the overall system in the Government rather than doing fire fighting and fixing the problems all the time.

Earlier, the Chairman Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Shri Kaushal Srivastava administrative the oath to newly recruited IRS trainees. He said that the Government has approved the setting-up of the new campus of National Academy of Customs, Central Excise and Narcotics (NACEN) in Andhra Pradesh.

Among others present on the occasion include Shri Shakti Kanta Das, Revenue Secretary, Members of CBEC, Shri G. Sreekumar Menon, DG, NACEN and the senior officers of Department of Revenue.

Ethics in public service: IRS customs trainees urged to maintain integrity while balancing tax assessment and embracing GST. Trainees were instructed to maintain a high level of ethics, morality and credibility, be firm and fair in tax assessment by balancing what should and should not be charged, and prepare during the 18 month programme for the post GST indirect tax regime using modern technology. Emphasis was also placed on raising the tax to GDP ratio, removing structural bottlenecks rather than undertaking ad hoc fixes, and strengthening institutional capacity, noted alongside administrative updates about trainee oath taking and a new NACEN campus approval.