Assocham asks govt not to hike excise duty, service tax.

New Delhi: Industry body Assocham Monday urged the government not to increase excise duty and service tax from their current level of 10.3 percent.

"Corporate India wants stimulus package to continue in the form of excise duties and service tax at the current level of 10.3 percent in the Union Budget for the financial year 2012-13," the chamber said in a pre-budget expectations survey.

About half of the 1,000 CEOs participated in the survey asked for reduction in central sales tax from 2 percent to 1 percent to accelerate implementation of the Goods and Services Tax. The GST is likely to push the country's economic growth, which might add Rs 1.50 lakh crore annually to the government's kitty.

The CEOs also urged the government to provide tax sops to sectors with a high employment generation potential like construction, IT, ports, roads, telecom and textiles.

Besides, it said that the government should do away with indirect taxes on inputs and services used in setting up infrastructure projects during investment phase to attract investment.

A majority of the respondents have urged the government to maintain the Personal Tax rates as per the proposed DTC.

To generate additional revenue and reduce the soaring fiscal deficit, it said that the government can consider selective increase in customs duty on import of items other than input materials and capital goods, besides, stake sale in PSUs.

Source : zeenews.india.com