Punjab - Entry tax is adjustable on all items except sugar

The Punjab government has clarified that the Entry Tax being levied on all items, except sugar, is aimed at checking evasion of value-added tax (VAT).

The tax is fully refundable on all items except sugar, he said, adding that the amount taken in the form of entry tax would be deducted from the amount a trader pays as VAT, State Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal told reporters here.

"Imposition of Entry Tax on other items, barring sugar, is just shifting of the stage of VAT to evade the alleged large scale tax evasion and ultimately it will be adjusted against VAT, but in case of sugar, new tax was imposed to stop dumping of the same in Punjab from other states," he said.

Levying tax on the entry point of the state on iron and steel, chemicals, yarns and sugar at the rate of four per cent similar to VAT would definitely stop the tax evasion and benefit the sugar mills, he said.

On generating more sources of revenue for the state, he said that a meeting of the co-ordination committee of both the ruling alliance partners Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP would be held on the November 28 to discuss the issue.

Source : Economic Times - Gurgaon, Haryana, India, dated 26/11/2007