Traders happy over waiver of old arrears of VAT

Dissatisfied with non-reduction of tax on petrol and diesel

Aurangabad, March 11:

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar presented the state budget in which it was announced that the old arrears of VAT up to Rs 10,000 would be waived. Likewise, 80 percent of the arrears up to Rs 10 lakh would be waived if 20 percent of the pending amount is paid. This has been a great relief to the business community. However, 90 percent of the vehicles run on petrol and diesel. Traders have expressed displeasure over the non-reduction of taxes, which will further increase inflation.

Welcome waiver of arrears

There were thousands of old cases of VAT arrears. It will definitely benefit small and medium traders by waiving the arrears of up to Rs 10,000. However, inflation is rising everyday. Mostly goods are transported by truck. If taxes on diesel and petrol had been reduced, inflation would have been brought under control, said Praful Malani, president, Marathwada Chamber of Trade and Commerce.

Independent ministry of trade ignored

We had sent a memorandum to the state government in December, in which the main demand was to set up an independent trade ministry for traders in the state. However, that was ignored. A provision of Rs 10,000 crore was made for trade but no explanation was given, said Laxminarayan Rathi, vice president, Jilha Vyapari Mahasangh.

Professional tax not waived

‘Abhay Yojana’ has been introduced to settle the old VAT arrears. This will give some relief to small and medium traders and industries. Since the introduction of GST, we have been demanding the abolition of professional tax but this has been ignored in the state budget this year as well, said Ghulam Haqqani, joint secretary, Jilha Vyapari Mahasangh.