MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Agro Food Chamber of Commerce and Industry in two statements expressed their disappointment over the absence of concessions on direct and indirect taxes in the interim budget.
In a statement issued on Thursday, state Chamber of Commerce president N Jegatheesan said, "The number of direct taxpayers has increased by 2.4 times and the number of taxpayers has now increased to 8.5 crore. There is no change in income tax slab as about 37% of people, including businessmen and salaried people, are paying taxes," he said.
Jegatheesan further stated that more than 600 toll gates have been set up across the country, with charges being increased by 10 to 15% every year.
"This has adversely affected the trade and industrial sector, particularly the MSME, and the general public. While promises have been made to reduce the number of toll gates, neither the number nor the charges has seen a decline," he added.
"The non-completion of projects such as AIIMS hospital, NIPER, Bus Port, Metro rail, and the expansion of the Madurai airport, which were announced in the previous budget to boost development of southern Tamil Nadu, in the last five years is also disappointing," he said.
Similarly, Agro Food Chamber of Commerce and Industry Founder and President S Rethinavelu in his statement thanked the finance minister for announcing that value addition in the agricultural sector and boosting farmers' income would be stepped up.
The proposal to promote private and public investment in post-harvest activities would substantially reduce post-harvest losses and increase the income of farmers.
The proposal to achieve 'atmanirbharta' (self-reliant) in the production of oil seeds such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soyabean, and sunflower would reduce the crude edible oil import bill in the days to come. Yet another pro-active proposal is to double sea-food exports to Rs 1 lakh crore and generate 55 lakh jobs shortly," said Rethinavelu.
He further stated that in the backdrop of the warning given by the CBIC chairman to officers against 'reckless' GST notices being issued without diligence, we expected that the second-generation reforms, called GST 2.0, would be announced. "Lack of such an announcement in the budget is a great disappointment," he added.