VAT move partially rolled back as traders’ protest

Confirming the same,Excise and Taxation Commissioner (ETC),A Venuprasad said,“Today industry delegations from Mandi Gobindgarh,Ludhiana and few other cities met us. While Mandi Gobindgarh industry demanded that benefit should pass on till the third stage,Ludhiana industry was pressing for upto four stages. So we have agreed to Ludhiana industry’s demand.” Earlier,this benefit used to be passed on up to any level of buyer of the same product and thus in certain cases it used to go even up to 100 levels,said ETC.

The Ludhiana delegation was accompanied by chief parliamentary secretary Harish Rai Dhanda. It needs to be that ETC had mentioned earlier that the change had been done to plug the tax evasion and bogus VAT refunds which were causing loss to state’s exchequer. In Ludhiana alone,bogus VAT bills worth Rs 300 crores were unearthed and multi-crores scam was detected in Jalandhar as well,said ETC.

He claimed,“Up to four levels of trading of iron and steel,we will be able to manage and check tax evasion if any.” Industry representatives had presented their point of view that that the steel producers had got steel scrap and other inputs mainly through traders. They distributed their steel products mainly through traders and hence the benefit should be passed on at least upto four stages,they said.