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Assembly passes VAT Amendment Bill

PHOTO: T. SINGARAVELOU

BIG DAY: Chief Minister N. Rangasamy arriving at the Assembly in Puducherry on Thursday. —

PUDUCHERRY: The territorial Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed the Puducherry Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2008.

The Bill was moved to give legal sanctity to the notification issued after the promulgation of VAT ordinance for exempting certain items from the tax purview.

The amendment was brought in to incorporate a few more items in the list of goods exempted in the first schedule of the Puducherry Value Added Tax Act, 2007. The items exempted include lifesaving drugs notified by the government, software with complete Tamil, Malayalam or Telugu versions, edibile items, stationery and household items.

Household items such as aluminium utensils, broomsticks, camphor, candles, energy-saving choolas, hurricane lanterns, safety matches, handicrafts and kerosene sold through public distribution system, kerosene lamps and stoves, lanterns, petromax and chimney stoves have been included in the list.

Edible items such as sugar, masala powder, vermicelli, tamarind, asafoetida, non-branded butter, chillies, coriander, turmeric, edible and vegetable oil have been provided exemption. The government has also exempted stationery items including writing instruments, pencils, sharpeners, pens, ballpoint pens, refills, stainless steel nibs, colour pencils, black boards, dusters, geometry boxes and dissection boxes.

Items such as jamakalams, saree falls, lace, ribbon, shikakai and shikakai powder, UNICEF greetings, diaries and calendars, footwear costing less than two hundred rupees, gauze or bandage cloth and goods manufactured by blacksmiths have also been given exemption.

The amendment would bring bagasse, textiles, Indian Made Foreign Liquor and imported liquor under the list of goods exempted, while tobacco and arrack pattai would come under the purview of tax.

Tobacco items would attract 12.5 per cent tax, while arrack pattai has been included in the fifth schedule related to the list of goods taxable at a rate of 20 per cent at the point of first sale.

The notification to exempt these goods was issued in July, 2007 after the VAT ordinance was promulgated on June 2, 2007. However, these notifications were not included in the Puducherry Value Added Tax Act, 2007, passed on November 5 when the Assembly was convened.

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