STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: The workers of Dogra Front and Shiv Sena (AG) led by Ashok Gupta held a protest on Thursday against the enhancement of VAT in the State of J and K by burning the effigies of the Finance Department.
“The people of J and K are already reeling under the pressure of high inflation of essential commodities and hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG and the hike in the price of the VAT is like a nail in the coffin on the pocket of the trader and the businessman,” Gupta said.
“The State Government is imposing excessive tax on garment retailers and
those trading in several food items to increase its revenu`e,” he said. Gupta stated that the hike in the toll tax would lead to double taxation. “We are already paying sales tax and VAT on such items. Thus, additional VAT would lead to double taxation,” he said adding that the decision to increase VAT would have a cascading effect on the common man.
“The small-scale enterprises are themselves in need of a helping hand as due to the shifting of train station to Katra the local enterprises are already bearing the brunt in the form of 45 per cent less sales and instead of coming to their aid, the government has thought it fit to burden them further to bail out the Shikarawala and taxi operators in the form of providing them a waiver of Rs 49 crores which also shows the impartial behavior of the government towards the people of Jammu,” he mentioned. He said the increase in VAT would push up the cost of most commodities, cause trade diversion, favour unscrupulous dealers and clandestine movement of goods which would result in loss of revenue to the government. “We urge the government to roll back the increase in VAT rates in the interest of industry, trade and the common man,” he said.
Deepak Gupta, Prem, Ashish, Ram Paul, Bantu, Fauji, Roop Lal and Abhishek were also present.
