AP govt justifies hike in value-added tax

The state government has justified the hike in the floor rate of value added tax (VAT) from 4 per cent to 5 per cent. It said the hike was made on the advise of the Centre and to avoid a loss of Rs 2,000 crore annually to the state exchequer.

According to an official communique on Monday, the Centre has been compensating the states for the loss of revenue on account of reduction in the rate of Central Sales Tax (CST) from 4 per cent to 2 per cent. However, in order to reduce its burden, the Union government has been advising the states to raise the floor rate of VAT from 4 to 5 per cent. 

Following this, 11 states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka have raised the rates from 4 to 5 per cent.  Andhra Pradesh, however, did not increase the floor rate.

Recently, the Centre had informed the state government that the compensation payable towards reduction in CST would be reduced by the amount of revenue that could be gained by raising VAT from 4 to 5 per cent, even if the state had not raised this rate.

During 2010-11, the deduction made by the Centre on this account had been Rs 1,089 crore.