February 2011 - CII

policy pulsePre Budget Memorandum submitted for Himachal, Punjab & RajasthanIssue State RecommendationTaxation VAT Punjab - VAT rates charged across all sectors should be aligned with neighboringstates to have a level playing field.- 75% of the amount of VAT charged be refunded immediately to theentrepreneur and rest 25% on submission of C& H forms (need to qualifyrefund as in is this for exports, or is this for excess VAT etc).- Input credit should be allowed on LPG without any disallowance of 4% undersec 13 (4) Punjab VAT act , 2005, to encourage the use of cleaner fuels.Rajasthan- Allow Input Tax Credit under Rajasthan VAT regime for mining.- Re-classification of Minerals and Mineral Powders in schedule – IV, part (B)of Rajasthan VAT Act, 2003.Entry Tax Himachal - Make the entry tax Vatable on some items which are being utilized asindustrial inputs.The State Government has agreed in principle and assuredthat a notification in this regard will be issued soon.Property Tax Punjab - Property tax structure be revisited. Adopt computation of property tax onthe basis of the unit area method to ensure better commercial development.UrbanDevelopment TaxRajasthan- Government of Rajasthan has levied Urban Development Tax on all theproperties including industries. All the industrial estates in Rajasthan areowned and developed by RIICO and industry charged an annual developmentand service charges. The Urban Development Tax levied by Nagar Nigamon properties situated in Industrial Estates owned and developed by RIICOamounts to double taxation for such units and needs to be withdrawn.Infrastructure Punjab - Encourage exports from Derabassi industrial belt by starting dedicated freighttrains from Dappar dry port to ports at Mumbai & Kandla.Rajasthan- Highways for road transportation should be constructed alongside the railcorridors to reduce logistic costs.-Bhiwadi is a very big industrial town in Alwar District, which needs to beconnected with Rail Transport.- Besides Jaipur airport, other civilian airports at Bikaner, Sri-Ganganagarand Jaisalmer should be made operational and flights revived.- Create an inventory of bankable infrastructure projects to be awardedunder PPP.Himachal- Make sufficient budgetary allocations for improvement of road and railinfrastructure with an objective to reduce the transportation costs and also tofacilitate inter-state trade.18 C I I n o r t h e r n r e g i o n n e w s l e t t e r