Supporting the striking truck operators, the National Democratic Alliance on Wednesday asked the government to withdraw the proposed service tax on transport booking agents.
In a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the NDA accused Finance Minister P Chidambaram of being 'casual' in preparing the Budget and demanded that the government carry out amendments to the Finance Bill withdrawing the proposed 10 per cent Service Tax on transport booking agents, pandal and shamiana contractors and a host of financial services.
NDA sources, however, said Singh 'refused' to receive the memorandum presented by a delegation led by L K Advani and George Fernandes, and asked Opposition leaders to take part in the discussions on the budgetary process.
The NDA memorandum contained several demands including restoring interest rate on Employees Provident Fund at 9.5 per cent instead of the interim 8.5 per cent.
NDA wanted Finance Minister to withdraw the proposed amendment in the Income Tax Act that stipulates up to three years rigorous imprisonment for falsification of books of accounts or documents. This is a draconian provision, which has led to strong protests from chartered accountants, income tax practitioners and others, it said.
"We feel, the current provisions of the Indian Penal Code are sufficient to deal with such offences, and amendment of the Income Tax Act for this purpose is entirely unnecessary."
NDA also demanded withdrawal of mandatory Annual Information Return on transactions above Rs 50,000, saying, "This will bring back inspector raj in a big way and cause untold hardship to taxpayers without any gain in revenue."