One
of the longest pending demands of industry is the
implementation of a national-level Goods and Services Tax
(GST). While the Government had announced its intent to
introduce GST a couple of years ago, a clear roadmap for
the same has still not been worked out. With the GST
implementation deadline of 2010 nearing, we want the
Government to announce an implementation roadmap including
dates, how different tariffs will merge into the unified
structure, what the GST rate will be, and how the
Government plans to make administration of GST less
cumbersome than prevailing procedures. A simple, easy to
administer GST could reduce the tax burden on the
consuming public and thereby increase demand, while
simultaneously boost revenues by increasing compliance.
We
also would like the abolition of Fringe Benefit Tax. The last two years of
FBT’s implementation has not added much to the Exchequer, but has only ended
up taxing genuine business expenditure. While small steps like partly
rationalising FBT have already been undertaken in previous budgets, a complete
abolition of this tax would be highly beneficial.
The
various steps announced in previous budgets to target rural India, in particular
NREGA, have resulted in a boom in rural economy. We expect the Government to
continue this rural focus by improving targeting and stepping up efficiency of
delivery.
Source :
HinduBusinessLine, India,
dated 03/07/2009
