MLA demands roll back of sales tax amnesty scheme

An MLA has accused the BJP-PDP government of providing benefits to law breakers and chronic defaulters by launching an amnesty scheme for sales tax defaults in Jammu and Kashmir and termed the scheme as "illegal, arbitrary and discriminatory". "We demand recall of all the SROs (Notifications) which are illegal, arbitrary, discriminatory and also violatory of the constitution to benefit law breakers, tax evaders and chronic defaulters in the name of public interest," MLA Pawan Gupta told reporters here today.
He said that three notifications issued by the government are totally illegal, arbitrary and also to be in sheer of violation of constitution in law of land, motivated intentionally to benefit law breakers, tax evaders and chronic defaulters under amnesty scheme as it does not serve any public interest.

Under the amnesty scheme notified by the state government last week, penalty has been waived for traders and industrial units who will clear their general sales tax dues, assessed up to 2015-16, in six equal instalments.
Gupta said that the notifications have created class discrimination between honest taxpayers and tax evaders quite in contradiction to the mandate of the constitution which protects the honest not the dishonest by rewarding tax evaders who are habitual in tax evasion and defaults, he said.
Lashing at the government and coalition partner BJP for imposing tax on Amarnath pilgrimage heli services, the MLA said that the BJP is helping law breakers with its illegal malafide notifications to benefit some people.

Even the High Court at several times have reprimanded for not recovering due tax arrears from various dealers who collected the levy from consumers but did not deposit with the authorities, he said.