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Journalism of Courage
CHANDIGARH, Feb 22: Punjab Finance Minister Capt. Kanwaljit Singh today ruled out reintroduction of sales tax check barriers, assuring the industry that the state was prepared to reduce the sales tax slabs from 13 to four.
During an interaction with the Confederation of Indian Industry here, the Finance Minister said the process for reduction in the sales tax slabs would begin shortly. The government was not interested in harassing the industry but wanted to simplify the tax procedures to facilitate payment of taxes, he emphasised. The industry had been lobbying for reduction in the number of slabs for quite some time but the sales tax department said that it was not possible until the northern region states agreed to have uniformity in tax rates.
Singh agreed to the CII suggestion that sales tax “set off” should be available to industry where goods were not taxable or where they are stock transferred. CII had said that the imposition of first stage sales tax on paints from July 1, 1998 had led to problems. The Finance Minister also promised to ensure that certificate of sales tax exemption were issued to the industrial units without waiting for an application and disposal of pending cases of check barriers within three months.
Earlier, Rakesh B. Mittal, chairman, Punjab State Council of CII, made a detailed presentation on issues related to self-assessment, harassment caused by flying squads, problems faced by the industry in obtaining C’ form and introduction of prosecution.
He urged the minister not introduce export-import permit on the lines of Uttar Pradesh. Other present during the interaction included Rajan Kashyap, principal secretary (Finance), Vijay Kain, secretary (Expenditure), Sudhir Mittal, commissioner (Excise and Taxation) and D.S. Guru, director (Industries).
