Chidambaram says to notify commodities tax but "what's the hurry"

[K.Karthik Raja]

Chidambaram says to notify commodities tax but "what's the hurry"
Monday, Jun 9

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today said the government will
notify the Commodities Transaction Tax but declined to give a
timeframe.
"It will be notified. What's the hurry," the finance minister told
reporters after his address at the annual meeting of the Central Board
of Direct Taxes.
Chidambaram had proposed commodity transaction tax of 0.017% on
commodity futures transactions in the Union Budget for 2008-09 (Apr-
Mar).
As per the provisions of the Finance Bill, which has already been
passed by Parliament, the tax was to come into effect from Jun 1. The
government, however, is yet to notify it.
The tax has drawn widespread criticism from market players.
The Forward Markets Commission head B.C. Khatua has said the levy
would lead to a sharp fall in the turnover of domestic commodities
markets.
The government is under pressure to withdraw the controversial tax
and has been deferring its notification.
A finance ministry official had last month told NewsWire18 that
rolling back the tax would be difficult now, as the Finance Bill has
been passed by both houses of Parliament.
At best, the government can defer the notification to bring the
tax into force by a couple of months.
"As things stand, CTT is part of the Finance Bill and it is now a
law
since the bill has been passed by Parliament. Any changes in CTT can
only be made by Parliament but the government has some leeway in
delaying its notification," the official had said. End