JAIPUR: Rajasthan Congress has alleged widespread anomalies in the application of Value Added Tax (VAT) regime in the State. The Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who is also the Finance Minister has passed on the responsibility of implementation of VAT regime to her party colleague and chairman of the VAT Committee, S.N.Gupta.

The trade and industry in the State are perplexed over the Government's ad hoc policies on VAT which would take away the very credibility of the new tax regime, the party has pointed out.

Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Param Navdeep Singh alleged in a statement here on Tuesday that the confusion over VAT was deliberate.

"The Finance Department is purposely creating the anomalies in VAT so that the traders and industrialists approached VAT Committee for deals," Dr.Singh observed.

Listing the areas in which taxation under VAT have been found "anomalous" Dr.Singh said the 1200 odd dal mills in the State at 1 per cent VAT would not be in a position to survive as in the neighbouring States there is no tax on lentils. The wire and insulated cables industry has 12.5 per VAT in Rajasthan while in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Kerala and West Bengal it is only 4 per cent.

Similar discrepancies in the so called uniform tax could be found in the tax rates on branded "bhujia" products, marbles tiles, cattle feed and material used in puja (worship).

The decision to bring marble waste— slurry and uneven pieces— under VAT was not proper as it would lead to abandoning of marble waste causing environmental problems in the mining and processing areas, Dr.Singh pointed out. The four per cent VAT on cattle feed would affect the cattle wealth of Rajasthan, she warned.

Dr.Singh cautioned the Government that the proposed 12.5 per cent VAT on sandstones would adversely affect the stone industry in Chief Minister's own region, Hadauti.

There were 811 sandstone units in Kota region employing 1-lakh persons and 4 per cent tax on Kota stone slabs and 12.5 per cent tax on tiles would cripple the industry, she pointed out. The decision to bring all those who do business up to Rs. 2 lakhs a year under the VAT regime would lead to great hardships for small businessmen, she said.

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