Shimla: To mop up additional revenues, the excise and taxation department has hiked additional goods road tax on fly ash, iron, aluminium, limestone and some other items which is bound to impact pricing of these goods.
Bhim Sen, principal secretary excise and taxation said that the last revision of goods tax on these items was made in 1996-97 and was overdue as prices of many commodities had increased several times since then.
“Over all the goods tax has only been increased marginally by as little as 0.1 percent,†he said.
As an amendment to the HP goods taxation act stands carried out and the applicable rate of goods tax on a ton of fly ash has been increased from Rs 25 to Rs 35, on iron and steel from Rs 50 to Rs 75 per ton, on aluminium from Rs 100 to Rs 150 per ton and on limestone from Rs 25 to Rs 35 per ton, excise and taxation officials disclosed. On plastic goods also the tax has been increased from Rs 50 to Rs 75 per ton, he added.
The tax is collected at the revenue barriers on the borders of the state which monitor inter-state movement of goods.
Reacting to the hike in tax, Sohan Lal, a builder said, “the hike in terms of percentages is substantial and would definitely impact prices which will ultimately pass onto the consumer.â€
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