Thursday, Jun 19, 2003
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Kerala
By Our Special Correspondent
He is equally at ease quoting the Constitutional provisions, Shakhdar and Kaul or the Budget figures. He can also expand on any topic ranging from socialism to globalisation. He has a way of presenting his argument with such conviction that he can confound any one who tries to debate a point with him. He may not have a rabbit hiding in his hat, but he can pull out a kerchief from his hat and make everyone believe it is a rabbit. He almost did a perfect job of this rabbit sequence in the State Assembly while participating in the discussion on two Bills seeking to amend the Kerala General Sales Tax Act today. His turn during the discussion came just after the deputy leader of the Opposition, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, had gone hammer and tongs on the Antony Government for its `propensity to burden the people with more and more levies'. One of the two Bills was for reintroducing an additional levy of 15 per cent on the sales tax, which used to exist before, but was not mentioned in this year's Budget since the State was expected to go for the Value Added Tax (VAT) system this year along with the rest of the country. With the Centre having shelved the VAT system for the time being, the State could ill afford to forfeit the revenue which used to flow in as the additional sales tax. Hence the Bill seeking to extend the period of operation of the legal provision to levy the additional sales tax till the end of the current financial year. Mr. Kodiyeri, while attacking the Bill on various grounds, said its effect would be to impose an additional levy of around Rs. 1,000 crores on the people. He also explained the calculations on which he had arrived at this figure. ``How can it be Rs. 1,000 crores'' Mr. Aryadan challenged. ``We are speaking about a Budget projection of Rs. 5,378 crores of sales tax, only on which this additional sales tax of 15 per cent would be applicable. You multiply Rs. 5,378 crores by 15 and then divide the result by 100. That is how you calculate percentage. This is a small amount'' he said, quickly moving on to certain other issues. It took quite a little time for the Opposition to do some mental calculations and realise that Mr. Aryadan had got away with his trick of making a sum of Rs. 806.70 crores look like `a small amount'. The CPI(M) MLA, T. K. Balan, belatedly got to his feet trying to say Mr. Kodiyeri too had spoken about more or less the same amount, but by then, the rabbit sequence over, Mr. Aryadan was into something else.
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