Dasgupta meets Mulayam on VAT

With the deadline for implementation of the Value Added Tax (VAT) closing in, Chairman of the Empowered Committee Asim Dasupta on Monday made another attempt to convince Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in favour of the new regime.

“I assured the chief minister that there was not much ground in the objections raised by traders against VAT and with some discussion, the problems can be sorted out,” Dasgupta said. The West Bengal finance minister said the objection that small traders would be affected was already removed as the threshold limit for imposition of VAT has been raised to Rs 10 lakh and the rates for earnings up to Rs 50 lakh were also very nominal.

Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav later said that while some issues had been sorted out at the meeting, there were other aspects which still needed to be addressed. He reiterated that the government would implement VAT only with the consent of the trader community. “Unless the traders give their consent in favour of VAT, we would not implement it”, Yadav said. —PTI