India Inc has prepared its wish-list for the 2008-09 budget which include reduction of excise duty on motor cars, abolition of the Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT), removal of surcharge on corporate tax and review of the Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT).
"The government should reduce the excise duty from 24 per cent to 14 per cent on cars, multi-utility vehicles and petrol driven goods transport vehicles," the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said in its pre-budget memorandum.
While making a case for reduction of various levies, the chamber also suggested that focus of the next budget should be on transforming India from a "labour arbitrage Economy to knowledge arbitrage Economy".
The chamber wanted the government to lay special emphasis on skill development and rural Economy by providing fiscal incentives. It suggested that expenditure incurred by the industry on training and retraining programmes should be made eligible for tax exemption as is the case with Research and Development activities.
As regards the MAT, which was introduced by the Finance Ministry to rope in zero tax paying Companies into the tax net, the CII said that government should either abolish the tax or reduce its incidence to 5 per cent.
Although the CII has made a case for reducing host of direct taxes and excise duties, it urged the government to maintain the peak customs duty rate at 10 per cent as "imported goods have already become cheaper by 10.35 per cent due to appreciation of rupee against dollar since March 1, 2007".
No comments:
Post a Comment