Karunanidhi presents a please-all budget

Presenting his tenth budget in the State Assembly, Karunanidhi, aiming to please the poor and middle income groups, announced sales tax exemption for cooking oils like groundnut oil, coconut oil, ginger oil, refined oil and sunflower oil. He also reduced sales tax for intra-ocular lenses. To boost software industries, total tax exemption has been given to computer software.

Besides providing various tax concessions, the CM also announced new projects like constructing a new international airport at Chennai, extending Mass Rapid TransitSystem (MRTS) up to Velacherry, setting up underground sewerage facilities for Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Alandur, Pallavaram, Tambaram, Ambattur, Erode and Karur. Karunanidhi also said that schools would be set up in all the hamlets and free text-books distributed for all students from class one to five.

Tax on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) has been increased from 30 per cent to 40 per cent, on foreign liquor from 60 to 70 per cent and on pan masala from 20 to 30 per cent.

Companies with a taxable turnover above Rs 25 crore and up to Rs 50 crore would be subject to an additional sales tax of 1.5 per cent, and an additional two per cent for those companies with a taxable turnover between Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore. However, there would be no tax for companies with taxable turnover up to Rs 25 crore. Amusement parks would be levied entertainment tax of 20 per cent on collections, 90 per cent of which would go to local bodies.

The turnover limit for registration of traders would be raised from Rs75,000 to Rs 1.50 lakh, benefiting over 19,000 small traders. The CM said that tax on contract carriages (omni buses) would be raised from Rs 1,500 per seat per quarter to Rs 2,000. Karunanidhi said that due to the different rates of entry tax being levied for the purchase of vehicles by dealers and non-dealers, people purchased vehicles outside Tamil Nadu. "Therefore the entry tax structure for a non-dealer has been brought to the level of entry tax that is being levied on the dealers," he announced.

Central pay scale for Tamil Nadu Govt staff

The CMannounced that a one-man commission would be constituted to examine anomalies, if any, in the implementation of the revised pay scales. The commission would submit its recommendations within three months. The state government would grant the revised Central pay scales corresponding to the existing 25 state pay scales.