Punjab traders’ body has opposed to the State Government’s decision to replace entry tax leviable on certain commodities with ‘advance tax’. Terming as inviable, the traders’ body maintained that the move would make the State “in-conducive” for doing business and result into revenue losses.
“The Government must specify what it wants. Our deposit worth Rs 600 crore in the form of Value-Added Tax (VAT) is already lying with them,” said Federation of Jalandhar Industrial and Traders’ Association president Gursharan Singh. “The move to amend the VAT Act makes it inviable to do business in the State. As a result, traders are expecting to shift to other States and Punjab will suffer revenue losses,” Singh added.
Punjab Cabinet, only recently, approved a decision to amend VAT Act to replace ‘entry tax’ leviable on certain commodities with ‘advance tax’, aiming to plug leakages in tax collection. “The state government is levying new taxes on the industrial sector everyday. This is making the state in-conducive for business and if the government does not stop this, the little business that Punjab has, would also go to other states. This will only affect the state’s revenues,” he added.