Ahead of the Budget, the trade wing of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has sought relief in taxes, an increase in the tax exemption limit and cheaper point of sale (POS) machines in addition to relief in taxes for smaller businesses from Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
In a letter to Mr. Jaitley, AAP Trade Wing Convenor Brijesh Goyal demanded that those with an income of less than ₹10 lakh should be given a waiver.
“Those with income between ₹10-20 lakh per year should be taxed 15%, those in income slab of ₹20-40 lakh should be taxed 20%. Above this, there should be a tax of 25%,” Mr. Goyal said.
The tax audit limit should be increased from ₹1 crore to ₹2.5 crore and cheap loans should be provided to small traders, said Mr. Goyal. The trade wing also demanded reduction of service tax from 15% to 12%.
“To encourage digital transactions, POS machines should be made cheaper and Merchants Discount Rates should be waived,” Mr. Goyal said. He also demanded that tax on net profit of 8% under the scheme of section 44AD be brought down to 5%. The scheme of Section 44AD is designed to give relief to small assessees engaged in any business.
In a related development, the Delhi government’s VAT department has increased the date for filing of third quarter or October-November tax returns by city-based traders from January 28 to February 13.
