Chennai: Commercial Taxes minister K.C. Veeramani on Wednesday said the state’s revenue through commercial taxes had gone up by over ten per cent last year and announced the introduction of samadhan scheme to collect long pending arrears of taxes.
Replying to the discussion on demands for grants to his ministry in the Assembly, he said following the introduction of GST for goods and services from 1 July, the arrears in VAT which was being previously collected and pending till 30 June should be collected. The samadhan scheme would be introduced for the purpose, he said. He said CCTV cameras would be installed in commercial taxes offices in ten districts at a cost of Rs 1.42 lakh.
He said commercial taxes had collected a gross revenue of Rs 67,576 crores during 2016-17 and added that it marked a growth rate of 10.13 per cent over the previous year’s collection.
He said impressive growth had been achieved despite the downward trend in the price of petroleum products in the early part of the year, demonetisation in November, Vardah cyclone and severe drought. The target had been achieved by streamlining the collection mechanism and enhancing the administrative machinery, the minister said.
He said compensation would be provided to states in full for a period of five years through an independent statutory mechanism created for the purpose for the loss arising out of implementation of GST.
All administrative control over 90 per cent of tax payers having turnover below Rs 1.5 crore will vest with State tax administration and only ten per cent be with the Central tax administration, he said. Besides, all administrative control over tax-payers having turnover above Rs 1.5 crore would be divided equally in the ratio of 50:50 for the central and state tax administration, Veeramani added.
TTV supporter lashes out at govt on GST
AIADMK MLA and former minister Senthil Balaji on Wednesday launched a tirade against his own party government on the GST issue, alleging that textile industry in the Kongu region had been severely affected by the new tax regime.
Taking part in the discussion on demand for grants to Commercial Taxes ministry, the former minister said the textile industries in Karur, Namakkal, Salem, Erode and Coimbatore had been severely hit and protests are going on throughout the region.
Senthil Balaji began his speech praising AIADMK (Amma) general secretary V.K. Sasikala and deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran. Describing Sasikala as a ‘lantern of sacrifice’, Senthil Balaji said Dhinakaran had been nominated by her to save the party.
As the AIADMK member went on attacking the government to the utter delight of the DMK, deputy opposition leader K. Duraimurugan, who intervened asked
“When we raise such points, all the 20 ministers get to up answer us. But, your own member is lashing out at the government. Why are the ministers silent?”
But, Speaker P. Dhanapal, who intervened said the member was only making some demands. The DMK members thumped the desks welcoming Senthil Balaji’s speech.
Congress floor leader K.R. Ramasamy got up and asked if the state government supported GST or opposed it.
Commercial Taxes minister K.C. Veeramani replied that the state government was supporting the necessary sections and opposing the unnecessary ones.
The minister also said Congress had no locus standi on the issue, since it was introduced by the UPA government’s finance minister P. Chidambaram.
