Letters: Here are the facts

Vinayak G’s letter, “At a high cost to end user” (December 26), contains factual errors. Service tax was imposed in 1994 by Manmohan Singh, not P Chidambaram. It was not on a trial basis. Also the negative list is not nil.The conceptual error in the letter is deadlier. The writer says the concept of service tax was “imported”. But when such a tax is imposed, its results all over the world are needed to be known. Service tax was there as part of the goods and service tax almost all over the world, beginning with a limited number of countries from as far back as the 1960s. India is a member of the World Customs Organization and Word Trade Organization. So, all countries are dependent on each other for ideas on tax.
 
There is nothing like an “imported” idea. The writer seems to be unaware of the basics of taxation economics. He should first know about them before criticising.

Sukumar Mukhopadhyay New Delhi

 
Vinayak G responds:
 
I stand corrected about who imposed the concept of service tax in India in 1994. I regret the error.
 
Regarding the other issues raised by Sukumar Mukhopadhyay, I would like to submit that any taxation regime that is not domestically devised could perhaps be termed “imported”; nothing more should be read into it. On the current negative list, I simply meant that it has been drastically pruned, as most of the transactions have been covered under the latest service tax regime.