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Without
disclosing much about the agenda of the proposed meeting,
Manpreet said the committee would review the financial
health of the state and certain measures have been
identified to generate more revenues, which would be
presented in the meeting before taking any final decision.
He
said that according to the report of Auditor General the
collection of VAT has increased by about seven per cent in
the state during the current financial year, which, he
expected, would increase up to 15 per cent at the end of
the financial year.
He
also said the collection of excise duty has increased by
Rs 200 crore in the current financial year which is a
growth of 15 per cent whereas earlier it was about 2 per
cent only.
However,
he said that though the collection from stamp duty has
decreased by 20 per cent, it would be make up by the end
of the financial year.
On
the on-going tussle between the industrialists and the
state government on the issue of entry tax, the Finance
Minister Badal clarified that barring sugar, imposed entry
tax on other items is adjustable and just shifting of
stage of VAT.
“Imposition
of entry tax on the 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,”
finance minister clarified.
Imposing
tax on the entry point of the state on iron and steel,
chemicals yarns and sugar at the rate of 4 per cent
similar to the VAT would definitely stop tax evasion and
benefit the sugar mills of the state, he claimed.
Claiming
that the tax is fully refundable on all other items except
sugar, he said that the amount taken in the form of entry
tax would be deducted from the amount a trader pays as his
VAT.
Source
:
The Business
Standard, India, dated 27/11/2007
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