New Delhi: Hardening their stance traders body CAIT and All India Bullion Jewellers and Swarnkar Federation (AIBJSF) said on Sunday that they will not withdraw their strike till the time the government rolls back its proposal to impose one per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery.
Jewellers hardened their stand despite finance minister Arun Jaitley offering to walk the extra mile to ensure that small traders were not harassed. Mr Jaitley said that gold and other jewellery will be part of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime which will subsume the one per cent proposed excise levy, as there cannot be a situation where essential items are taxed and luxury items like gold are left out.
“A luxury item must pay its share of taxes. So on procedural harassment, if they have any suggestions, I am willing to accept for simplification so that there is no harassment I am willing to take an extra step. But indefinitely India can not have a situation where luxury items go untaxed,” he said.
The strike by a section of jewellers to protest against the proposal entered the 26th day on Sunday. CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said that the government should at least put its decision on abeyance till the issue get resolved.
