Tax collection has to be more humane: Mukherjee

New Delhi, March 12 (IANS) Tax collection has to be more humane, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said, asking revenue officials to consider tax payers as important stake-holders in nation-building.

"We have to administer taxes with a human approach. The shift in policy whereby tax payers are not seen as adversaries has resulted in a significant growth in tax collection during the past decade," Mukherjee said, addressing the 63rd batch of trainee officers of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) here Thursday evening.

He said this very change had led direct tax collection to rise 10 times in the past decade.

"The share of direct taxes is now more than 55 percent. It was due to increased tax buoyancy and efforts by the revenue departments that the government was able to waive the loans to farmers amounting to Rs.71,000 crore," said Mukherjee.