PATIALA, Nov 11: The Patiala Industries Association has strongly condemned the recent sales tax hike and amendments made in the Punjab General Sales Tax (second amendment) Act, 1999.PIA vice-president Naresh Gupta and executive member P.S. Sidhu, in a joint statement issued today, said with these amendments, the sales tax law has become more stringent than TADA, since no court of law can take cognizance of any offence under this law, except with the prior permission of the commissioner. "But stringent laws will not help increase the government revenue," they said. These amendments have conferred vast powers on officials which will increase corruption rather than government revenue, they added.The two PIA leaders said instead of making such draconian laws to compensate its losses, the government should set right its own house by properly governing its institutions and corporations which were the root cause of the problem. "Such actions will only be an unnecessary burden on the private sector which is trying to make ends meet in this period of recession," they said.They said Patiala hardly has any industrial base worth the name and instead of giving an impetus to industrial growth, such anti-trade laws were being forced down their throats. The Patiala Industries Association has joined the industrial and trading associations of Punjab to demand their withdrawal.
