The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states, along with Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal, which have not yet implemented VAT, seem to be in no mood to switch to the new regime. |
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today demanded that the Centre come out with a white paper on the post-VAT situation. Surprisingly, he found a supporter in Uttaranchal's Congress Chief Minister N D Tiwari. |
Besides the two, Rajasthan's Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Chhatishgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh said they would not implement VAT until their demands were met by the Centre. They were speaking at a conclave organised by the India Today Group here today. |
When it was pointed out that a number of states had witnessed buoyancy in tax collection after switching over to VAT, Modi said growth in tax collection was not the only issue. Effect on general prices and the impact on the consumers were more important. |
Raman Singh said his state would lose around Rs 450-500 crore in revenue per annum due to VAT on coal. He said either the empowered committee should put coal out of VAT or a permanent compensatory mechanism should be put in place. |
Raje said the empowered committee should differentiate between producing and consuming states and reiterated that the Central sales tax needed to be phased out before VAT implementation. |
She also said VAT was against state autonomy in commercial taxes. |
The UP chief minister said the motive behind VAT, to introduce a common taxation system, had not been fruitful, adding that continuing with sales tax was not affecting his state finances adversely. |
However, Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Chief Minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda said their states had witnessed tremendous growth in tax revenue after the implementation of VAT. |
While the growth rate in Delhi has been 30 per cent during the first quarter, Haryana has registered 44 per cent growth as per last month's figures. |
Dikshit also said if the new tax was harming trade, then Delhi's economy, which depends entirely on trade, would have been affected significantly. |