Hyderabad, Dec 6 : Transparent payment of income tax is also a form of patriotism that facilitates the strengthening and progress of the nation, said Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Saturday. "Taxes are a major source of revenue for the governments and they help the governments take up welfare and developmental programmes," said Soundararajan. She made these remarks as the chief guest at the virtual inaugural of the 23rd National Convention of All India Federation of Tax Practitioners (AIFTP). Citing Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) statistics, the Governor said that only around 1.5 crore people actually pay tax on their income out of a total of 130 crore people in our country. "According to the CBDT, the number of people who filed their returns was 5.78 crore in the financial year 2018-19 in our country. And among these, only 1.46 crore people were liable to pay tax on their income," she observed. Though income tax structure was people friendly, Soundararajan pointed out that awareness on the need to pay income tax was very low. She exhorted the tax practitioners to strive to create better awareness on the need to pay income tax and come up with simplified tax procedures for the same. The Governor praised the services of AIFTP in the tax domain and added that its suggestions are being respected by the Central government. /IANS