‘Most decline to answer queries on income tax’

NEW DELHI: A majority of the respondents refused to answer questions on income tax paid, while 95% felt uncomfortable disclosing income from different sources, showed results of pre-testing exercise undertaken by statistics ministry’s household income survey, to be launched in Feb 2026.The pre-testing exercise showed 84% of respondents had a partial to good understanding of purpose of survey. About 73% of respondents felt questionnaire was relevant and 45% said the sequence of questions ensures natural flow of information. The statistics office plans to launch the National Household Income Survey, first-ever pan-India survey on measuring household income.