Bengal budget levies no taxes, gives reliefs

The West Bengal budget presented in the state Assembly today by state Finance Minister Amit Mitra has not levied any fresh taxes and given some relief to various sectors.
The budget proposes to increase the VAT threshold from Rs 5 lakh per annum to Rs 10 lakh following which 20,000 dealers will go out of the tax net.
An amnesty scheme for registration has also been introduced for unregistered dealers. These dealers will not be liable to pay penalties for registration now.
VAT relief has also been extended to the MSME sector by raising the threshold gradually from Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore as against Rs 5 crore earlier.

The buget proposes relief on stamp duty for property registration by reducing it from 7 per cent to 6 per cent for properties with market value up to Rs 40 lakh.
Tea gardens have also been given cess relief and exemption given from payment of unpaid interest on both farm tax and cess.
Amusement tax on musical soirees have also been reduced in the budget.