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The State Budget for
2002-03 has evoked mixed reactions from leading trade and industry
organisations, which have welcomed attempts at fiscal discipline even
while criticising new levies, including expanded scope for entry tax.
The chairman of the
Tamilnadu State Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry Southern
Region (CII-SR), Pradipta K. Mohapatra, said the Finance Minister's
stress on tax compliance and differentiating between complying and non
complying entities and expanding the scope of self-assessment were steps
in the right direction. He, however, called for a review of the
one per cent sales tax beyond the first point.
Describing the creation
of a Guarantee Redemption Fund as innovative, the Madras Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (MCCI) Vice-President, K.V.Shetty, welcomed the
decision to securitise the outstanding dues of the TNEB and
disinvestments of loss-making public sector units. However,
continuance and expansion of the scope of entry tax and levy of 24 per
cent tax on cement and five per cent for every second sale and five per
cent infrastructure surcharge were not in consonance with the proposed
value-added tax system.
The Southern India
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) President, R. Muthu, said while
the Samadhan Scheme 2002 would be mutually beneficial, the levy of two
per cent tax on rice, pulses and grams could have been avoided.
The Hindustan Chamber of
Commerce president, N. Tarachand Dugar, said the proposal to rationalise
rates of tax and clubbing of articles at higher slabs "would definitely
put the consumers to great difficulty".
While the Chemical
Industries Association president, P.K.N. Panicker, welcomed the
reduction of sales tax on molasses, the president of the National
Chamber of Commerce, Syed Muneer Ahmed, said the budget did not proved
any impetus for growth to trade and industry.
The president of the
Tamil Chamber of Commerce, S. Santhanam, said the new taxes amounting to
about Rs. 690 crores have been distributed in a balanced manner, even
while describing the proposals to tax PVC pipes, cement, Indian
medicines as hands.
The All India Tax Payers
Association president, Ashok Kumbhat, said the fresh levies were
"too high and might make the State's industrial products
non-competitive.
He appealed for
reconsideration on the levy of entry tax on certain items and on the
increase in sales tax as otherwise it would affect the lower
middle-class.
The president of the
Sindhi Chamber of Commerce, Lalchand K. Nichani, said the imposition of
entry tax on rice and wheat was "most distressing". But he
welcomed the removal of entry tax on cement and reduction in tax on
items like sparkings.
Welcoming the
experimental measure to set off 100 per cent of the tax paid on inputs
for electronic goods, the president of the All-India Radio and
Electronics Association, V. Sankar, said the concessional rate of four
per cent for telecom equipment would help boost production.
However, the steep
increase in the tax on electronics parts and accessories from four to 10
per cent and an electronic goods from eight to 12 per cent would push up
the prices.
- THE HINDU, Thursday March 28, 2002 |
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