Punjab to give prizes to improve tax collection

Next time you go shopping at a retail store, don't forget to collect a receipt of your purchases.

The Punjab state excise and taxation department is soon going to start a lucky draw scheme, wherein the bills collected in the drop-boxes placed at select locations will be taken for a lucky draw and the winners will be given exciting prizes.

Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Punjab, A Venuprasad, disclosed this while speaking to Business Standard. "We want to inculcate in the consumers a habit of demanding the bill after every purchase with a view to increase VAT collection of the state," he said.

Punjab finance minister, Manpreet Badal, had recently stated that the growth of VAT in the state was 10 percent for the financial year 2006-07 as compared to the last financial year.

He had mentioned that the current growth pattern was not at par with the neighbouring states and a target of 25 percent growth should be set for the current year.

Venuprasad admitted that new schemes were being proposed in order to increase the revenue of the government to meet the targets set by the finance minister.

"In addition to this, the enforcement wing of the department has also been asked to look into the details of tax evasion," he said.

"We are yet to decide upon the locations for the drop-boxes, but they will surely be put up on sites where maximum number of consumers can utilise them. This, in turn, would force the retailers to pay VAT to the government, which will increase the revenues of the department without use of any stringent measures," Venuprasad said.

The finance minister's statement had, however, sent panic waves across the industrial and trading sector in Punjab.

General secretary of Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal, Mohinder Aggarwal, said, "The minister wants the revenues to go up by 25 percent as compared to last year and other states. He should understand ground realities in terms of higher tax structure in Punjab as regards many products sold in the state. While in Punjab the VAT charged on desi ghee is 12.5 percent, in Delhi it is a mere 4 per cent. The same structure prevails for electrical goods and auto parts as well. Also, because of this people prefer purchasing products from other states than buying from Punjab. Hence, our collection is not at par with other states."