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In
this regard Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee raised
excise duty on some goods from 4 per cent to 8 per cent to
bring uniformity in the tax structure in the Budget today.
"With
the government's proclaimed objective of introducing a GST
both at the national and state level, some more steps in
that direction are necessary," Mukherjee said in his
Budget speech while announcing increase in excise duty
rates on some items like nylon, yarn, filament, and LPG.
However,
tax analysts said 8 per cent could be a benchmark and may
not necessarily be a GST rate.
"It
is a progressive tax measure announced in the Budget.
Eight per cent may not necessarily turn out to be a GST
rate," law firm Amarchand Mangaldas partner Aseem
Chawla said.
Earlier,
there was near consensus in the empowered committee of
state finance ministers on the 8 per cent GST rate,
sources said. However, there is no official word on it.
GST
is expected to replace excise duty and service tax at
central and VAT at state level.
Source :
Business Standard - Mumbai, Maharashtra, India,
dated 06/07/2009
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