Bhubaneswar, March 31: The meeting between the State Government and the traders body today over withdrawal of VAT from essential commodities failed to make any headway and the stalemate over the issue continues.
However, it was decided that another meeting will be held after the current session of the Assembly is over, to resolve the issue.
The Government, meanwhile, requested the traders body not to go for any agitation.
Traders body secretary Sudhakar Panda said from April 1 they are, however, going to stop procurement of essential commodities.
The Federation of All Odisha Traders’ Associations (FAOTA) has been demanding imposition of unitary tax instead of 5 per cent VAT on food items since a long time.
“Of the 29 states, 25 have no tax on food items. Odisha is a consuming State. Importing these items entails a freight cost of 5-7 per cent and after adding 5 per cent VAT, it becomes a cost burden of 12 per cent on the customer,” FAOTA claimed.
Claiming that the government is also not getting the amount of revenue it should get on the basis of 5 per cent VAT, the FAOTA maintains that the state is getting only one-tenth of the revenue it’s supposed to get.
“About 90 per cent of the revenue which should have come to government coffers is lost to unscrupulous traders. Then in whose interest is this 5 per cent VAT being levied,” it questioned.
It claims the taxation system was faulty and needs amendment.
FAOTA had earlier threatened to stop import of such items in June 2015 following which the State government had formed a committee to resolve the issue within three months.
Notably, the State consumes about 67,000 metric tonne of pulses and 12,000 MT of wheat products every month.
