-The Times of India In a major setback to special economic zone (SEZ) developers, finance minister P Chidambaram has turned down the commerce department's plea to cut the minimum alternate tax (MAT), which was imposed two years ago. A lower or no tax burden was cited as one of the main drivers for boosting investment in what were until recently duty-free enclaves. The commerce department had made a case for reversing Chidambaram's...
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The feeding frenzy of kleptocracy-P Sainath
-The Hindu Since 2005-06, taxes and duties for the corporate world and the rich have been written off at the rate of Rs.7 million a minute on average. Duties waived on gold and diamonds in the last 36 months equal the 2G scam amount Forbes has just added an “errata” to Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s budget speech. The Minister had found a mere 42,800 people in the country with a taxable...
More »CAG report on mining submitted to Chhattisgarh government-Suvojit Bagchi
-The Hindu Raipur: The Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) has completed the process of handing over four audit reports to the Chhattisgarh government. The first report was submitted on March 5 and the last on Monday, said a press release from the office of the Accountant-General (Audit) here. The CAG’s report on commercial mining of coal blocks in Chhattisgarh last year indicated that the former BJP president, Nitin Gadkari’s close aide, Ajay Sancheti, had...
More »An opportunity missed-CP Chandrasekhar
-The Hindu “The purpose of a Budget – and the job of a Finance Minister,” P. Chidambaram declared in his speech, “is to create the economic space and find the resources to achieve the socio economic objectives.” Now that the presentation of and the spate of initial responses to the budget are behind us, it may be appropriate to ask how far the Minister went in accomplishing his self-defined task. Mr. Chidambaram...
More »The freebie nation-Sreelatha Menon
-The Business Standard The Union Budget shows the charitable instincts of the government continuing to overwhelm it - though some would call it part inefficiency and part helplessness. The exemptions given to citizens on the tax they ought to pay have been exceeding the Plan expenditure, and even the total fiscal deficit as it did in 2012-13. This has prompted criticism from the Left parties and activists, who view it as evidence...
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