Ladies can bring duty-free-gold from other countries
Posted on: 28/Feb/2013 5:03:14 PM
Union Minister for Finance P.Chidambaram while presenting the budget for the year 2013-14 in the parliament announced the good news for the ladies as far as jewellery is concerned they would be allowed to bring more duty free good items provided they have stayed out of India for more than a year.
Sports utility vehicles, imported cars and motorcycles, high-end mobile phones, eating out at air-conditioned restaurants and cigarettes will become costlier with Finance Minister P Chidambaram deciding to impose higher taxes on these items..
Moreover, branded apparels will become cheaper as there will be a zero excise duty on the item. Carpets and other textile floor coverings of coir or jute will also become less expensive as they have been fully exempted from excise duty.
In his Budget proposals for 2013-14, Mr. Chidambaram said excise duty on Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) will be raised to 30 per cent from 27 per cent, as they occupy greater roads and parking space and ought to bear a higher tax but this will not apply to SUVs registered as taxis, the Finance Minister said.
Targeting the “affluent class in India that consumes imported luxury goods such as high end motor vehicles, motorcycles, yachts and similar vessels”, he said: “I am sure they will not mind paying a little more.”
Subsequently, basic customs duty on new passenger cars and other motor vehicles (high-end cars) costing more than USD 40,000 and/or engine capacity exceeding 3,000cc for petrol run vehicles and exceeding 2500 cc for diesel run vehicles has been hiked 100 per cent from 75 per cent earlier.
Likewise, the duty on yachts and similar vessels has also been raised to 25 per cent from 10 per cent.
In a blow to mobile handset makers, excise duty on instruments priced above Rs 2,000 has been raised to six per cent but the concessional excise duty of one per cent and has been kept unchanged in the case of low priced phones.
Smokers will also have to shell out more for their puffs with Mr. Chidambaram training his eyes on them for more tax revenues.
Giving small relief to tax payers, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced a tax credit of Rs 2,000 for persons with income up to Rs 5 lakh, will benefit 1.8 crore tax payers. The other slabs and rates remain unchanged.
“In a constrained economy, there is little room to raise tax rates or large amounts of additional tax revenues. Equally there is little room to give away tax revenues or the tax base. It is time for prudence, restraint and patience,” Mr. Chidambaram said.
