"Make in Punjab" policy on taxation reforms to come up soon : Sukhbir Singh Badal
Author(s): City Air NewsPunjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal presiding over a meeting of cabinet sub-committee on tax reforms at Chandigarh. Chandigarh, December 3, 2015: With a view to boost industrial growth in the State,...
cityairnews
Dec 3, 2015 12:30
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Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal presiding over a meeting of cabinet sub-committee on tax reforms at Chandigarh.
Chandigarh, December 3, 2015: With a view to boost industrial growth in the State, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister S Sukhbir Singh Badal today announced formation of a "Make in Punjab" policy within one month.
Disclosing this while chairing a meeting of cabinet sub-committee on tax reforms, the Deputy Chief Minister asked the excise department to prepare a detailed report after examining present tax structure in neighboring states. He said the purpose of this exercise should be to rationalize VAT/Sales Tax/Entry Tax on various goods and items. He said this would allow local industry to compete at par with neighbouring units. Conceding a major demand of the existing industry, cabinet sub-committee also agreed to slash VAT/sales tax as well as imposing entry tax on certain goods and asked the department to prepare a comprehensive report after consulting the concerned departments at the earliest.
S. Badal, who also holds excise and taxation portfolio, instructed the excise and taxation department to make VAT refund procedure in an easier, faster and time bound manner. Giving directions Deputy CM said the refund should be ensured at the end of every month and instructed to clear the backlog by the end of this month.
Batting for the use of cutting edge technology, S. Badal also asked the departmental officers to modernize the existing computerization which should be made industry specific so that VAT refund gets automatically transferred into the accounts of industrialists and traders. Besides this, he also directed the department to launch computerization of all integrated check posts at the earliest to plug the tax evasion thereby lessening congestion at barriers.
During the meeting, financial commissioner taxation Anurag Aggarwal informed that out of about 2.5 lakh registered dealers approximately 5000 firms apply for VAT refund and on an average a sum of Rs. 65 crore is being refunded per month to the bearers. He assured to the committee that VAT refund procedure would be made simpler at the earliest.
To curtail pollution level in densely populated cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, the cabinet sub-committee also consented to slash VAT on e-bikes and e-scooters. Besides this, it was also discussed in the meeting to rationalize VAT on bicycles and its spare parts.
Among others present in the meeting included industries and commerce minister Madan Mohan Mittal, food and civil supplies minister Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon, rural development minister Sikandar Singh Maluka, finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa, irrigation minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, additional chief secretary PWD NS Kalsi, principal secretary finance DP Reddy, director-cum-secretary industries & commerce S.R. Ladhar, secretary investment promotion Anirudh Tewari, chairman-cum-MD Punjab state power corporation limited K.D. Chaudhury and special principal secretaries to Deputy CM Manvesh Singh Sidhu, Rahul Tewari and Ajay Mahajan.
Date:
Thursday, December 3, 2015
