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Last
year, commercial tax collections, which includes, VAT,
sales tax (on liquor and motor spirit) and central sales
tax (CST), in the state was Rs 8,092 crore.
In
2007-08, total VAT collections were Rs 6,000 crore,
against Rs 5,100 crore the previous year, said H K
Dwivedi, commissioner of commercial taxes, government of
West Bengal at an interactive session at Merchants'
Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata on Monday.
The
VAT collections had been witnessing a robust increase of
about 26 per cent till October 2008, after which the
economic downturn adversely impacted tax collections, he
added.
The
state government is also taking steps for faster
refunds, and for the fiscal 2005-06, the process had
already been completed, said Dwivedi.
While
the industry body pegs the pending refunds amount at Rs
400 crore, the tax commissioner has assessed the refunds
at much lower levels.
According
to Dwivedi, between 2005-2008 (September), the refunds
would be "far lower than Rs 100 crore."
The
government is also taking steps to simplify the process
of filing returns and electronic registration of the
dealers
Source
: Business Standard - Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, dated
28/04/2009
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