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Traders? strike against VAT, entry tax today
WHOLESALE TRADERS of the City would go on a day-long strike against entry tax imposed by Indore Municipal Corporation and Value Added Tax (VAT) tomorrow. Ahilya Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Ramesh Khandelwal addressed a press conference in this regard at Indore Press Club today.
WHOLESALE TRADERS of the City would go on a day-long strike against entry tax imposed by Indore Municipal Corporation and Value Added Tax (VAT) tomorrow. Ahilya Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Ramesh Khandelwal addressed a press conference in this regard at Indore Press Club today.
Khandelwal said that the City was the biggest Mandi of Central India on the Mumbai-Delhi route and the extra tax imposed on trade would stifle all initiative, strangulating industry. The City is also the biggest collection point of revenue generated in the State.
The entry tax was self-contradictory, as even when the State had octroi, goods being sold outside the City were kept out of its purview. Similarly, goods being sold outside the State were free from entry tax while tax was being imposed on the same goods being sold outside the City. At present there were more than 20 kinds of taxes on trade and under such circumstances imposing new ones was detrimental to the health of trade and industry in the State.
Indore Handloom Vastra Vyapari Sangh president Madhusudan Rathi and spokesman Sandeepan Acharya said that the government had imposed four per cent VAT on articles like towels, blankets, napkins and the likes making survival difficult for the industry.
They said that earlier one per cent entry tax was charged, which has been continued apart from the four per cent VAT tax, which has created a question mark on the livelihood of poor women engaged in sewing and crafting, who have not received any orders from the past 45 days.
The entry tax imposed by IMC coupled with VAT would stifle 40,000 power looms in the Indore-Ujjain-Burhanpur circle and create a problem of survival for the Bherughat and Bagh prints.
They said that the Sangh, therefore, supported the call of strike and the markets would remain closed tomorrow. Various traders and organisations have come forth in support of the strike.
