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Traders back Vasundhara's stand on VAT

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, MARCH 22. The traders' lobby in Rajasthan has extended its unconditional support to the State Government's decision not to implement value added tax (VAT) from April 1 and applauded the stand of the Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, in a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled States in New Delhi over the week-end spelling out her reservations about VAT in its present shape.

A delegation of traders' organisations - led by the BJP MLAs, Kalicharan Saraf and Surendra Parik - met Ms. Raje at her official residence here on Monday to thank her for her decision against introduction of VAT without a roadmap for phasing out of Central sales tax. Other BJP-ruled States have agreed with the viewpoint of Rajasthan and announced not to bring in VAT with the continuation of CST.

The president of the Rajasthan Sakal Udyog Vyapar Sangharsh Samiti, Babulal Gupta, said the imposition of VAT even when CST continued to exist would spell doom for trade and industry of the State. However, he assured Ms. Raje of the traders' support for any step for simplification of tax structure.

Ms. Raje, interacting with the delegation members, said the State Government had always taken decisions in the interest of industrial and trade sectors and strived for speedy growth to ensure emergence of Rajasthan as a developed State. She pointed out that her initiative for reduction in the tax rates in last year's Budget had led to a significant increase in the total collections.

Ms. Raje called upon the traders to cooperate in the tax collections with the spirit of making contribution for the development of the State.

Among others, the president of the Federation of Rajasthan Trade and Industry, Sitaram Agrawal, FORTI general secretary, Prem Biyani, and honorary secretary of the Rajasthan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, K.L. Jain, were present in the meeting with the Chief Minister.

The decision against implementation of VAT in the BJP-ruled States was announced in New Delhi on Saturday at a meeting of the Chief Ministers and the Finance and Commercial Tax Ministers of these States.

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