The Centre on Thursday refused to roll back the one per cent excise duty levied on non-silver jewellery items, particularly gold, stating that the luxury items cannot be kept out of the tax ambit for perpetuity.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha refuted the allegations from the Opposition benches in the Upper House saying when items of common use were being taxed, how luxury items could be kept out. Congress and Samajwadi Party MPs rejected the Government’s argument and walked-out.
Replying to a Calling Attention Motion moved by Congress MP Raj Babbar, Jaitley said that the corporate jewellers with up to Rs12-crore turnover last year and up to Rs6-crore turnover in this fiscal were exempted from it.
He, however, said the Opposition should understand that it is a complex subject and when taxes are levied on items like steel, cement and clothes, luxury items cannot be out of its purview.
The jewellers have been on a nationwide strike for over 40 days to protest the levy. Opposition members charged the Government of killing the traditional jewellery trade and promoting the big brands by imposing the levy.
Dismissing charges that excise duty has hit hard small artisans, the Finance Minister said the trade has not developed such that annual turnovers of small jewellers has crossed Rs6 crore and stressed that “this is implemented on big chains.”
Jaitley said the UPA Government had imposed taxes on jewellery in 2005 but recalled it in 2009 in the face of stiff opposition. It had again imposed tax in 2012 but recalled it later.
Initiating the discussion, Babbar reminded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he was Gujarat Chief Minister, had tweeted on March 28, 2012 that imposition of 1 per cent excise duty then was wrong and should be recalled.
Raising the issue, Babbar demanded the rollback of the duty saying that the Government was killing the trade and local artisans were most impacted by it. He said such an attempt in the name of checking black money was not justified and in a way the Government was promoting big jewellery brands and torturing the small goldsmiths.