Bangalore, June 23,;Industry and trade bodies on Saturday called upon Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to reduce entry tax on diesel and petrol from 5 per cent to 3 per cent.
In a pre-budget exercise, office-bearers of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) and the Karnataka Small-Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) met the Chief Minister and urged him to exempt textile traders from entry tax and reduce entry tax on machinery, spare parts, accessories and machine tools.
FKCCI also demanded increase in luxury tax levied for room rent above Rs. 1,000 per hotel room. Now, tax is being levied for rent above Rs. 499 per room.
The Chief Minister held a daylong meeting with Finance and other department officials.
FKCCI president K. Shiva Shanmugam and KASSIA president B.P. Shashidhar presented memorandums to the Chief Minister.
To address investors’ sentiments, the industrialists demanded reduction of value added tax (VAT) to 4 per cent till such time that the index of industrial production improved.
KASSIA demanded payment of VAT once every quarter. Presently, the SSI units are making VAT payment in advance. It demanded abolition of entry tax to SSI units as done by Madhya Pradesh.
FKCCI demanded online registration of vehicles. Now, all new two-wheelers, cars are to be taken physically to RTO for registration.
In certain States, online registration has been implemented.
On Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) cess, traders demanded its reduction from 1.5 per cent to 0.5 per cent on arecanut and from 1.5 per cent to 1 per cent on other products.
They also demanded abolition of trade licence.
