The Times of India 14.03.2013
'Maharashtra government is deceiving taxpayers with local body tax'
NAGPUR: Vidarbha Taxpayers Association, which is planning to approach the high court against the imposition of local body tax (LBT) from April 1, has termed the tax as a deceit by state government.
VTA president JP Sharma said that enforcement of LBT is a breach of trust by state government. He pointed out that when MVAT was proposed in early 2000, the state government had promised withdrawal of all taxes, including octroi. "However, replacing octroi with LBT or any other form of tax was never intended," he said.
Sharma said later government started announcing that octroi should be merged once Goods and Service Tax (GST) is enacted and the same was openly declared by many state ministers including chief ministers. "Now, when GST is on the verge of being implemented, state government came up with this unique idea of replacing octroi with more burdensome LBT. They are misleading people by saying they have abolished octroi and introduced more trader-friendly act," he said.
VTA secretary Tejinder Singh Renu said, "Many citizens are under the impression that LBT is to be paid by traders and hence they are free of octroi. However, they are under wrong impression, as final burden of LBT will fall on end users. Moreover, not only traders, but as per the definition of dealer in LBT Rules 2010, practically everyone with turnover of over Rs1 lakh and importing goods over Rs5,000 would be required to get registered under LBT."
Now, VTA is in the process of seeking legal opinion on this as well as other lacunae in the rules, including their Constitutional validity. "If VTA finds any illegal provision, the association will challenge the same and seek justice by filling petition before Mumbai high court's Nagpur Bench before March 31, 2013," said Sharma.
VTA president JP Sharma said that enforcement of LBT is a breach of trust by state government. He pointed out that when MVAT was proposed in early 2000, the state government had promised withdrawal of all taxes, including octroi. "However, replacing octroi with LBT or any other form of tax was never intended," he said.
Sharma said later government started announcing that octroi should be merged once Goods and Service Tax (GST) is enacted and the same was openly declared by many state ministers including chief ministers. "Now, when GST is on the verge of being implemented, state government came up with this unique idea of replacing octroi with more burdensome LBT. They are misleading people by saying they have abolished octroi and introduced more trader-friendly act," he said.
VTA secretary Tejinder Singh Renu said, "Many citizens are under the impression that LBT is to be paid by traders and hence they are free of octroi. However, they are under wrong impression, as final burden of LBT will fall on end users. Moreover, not only traders, but as per the definition of dealer in LBT Rules 2010, practically everyone with turnover of over Rs1 lakh and importing goods over Rs5,000 would be required to get registered under LBT."
Now, VTA is in the process of seeking legal opinion on this as well as other lacunae in the rules, including their Constitutional validity. "If VTA finds any illegal provision, the association will challenge the same and seek justice by filling petition before Mumbai high court's Nagpur Bench before March 31, 2013," said Sharma.
