'Walayar to Ernakulam' campaign to be launched tomorrow

Kochi, Nov 19 (UNI) Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac today said the 'Walayar to Ernakulam' campaign, which would be launched by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan tomorrow, would streamline the collection of value added tax (VAT) in the district.

Speaking to reporters here, Mr Issac said ''through the campaign, the government would be able to make the 'tax administration' free of corruption, bring in transparency and increase the tax collection.'' He said the district being a commercial hub, accounts for more than 50 per cent of the total tax collection in the State.

The 'Walayar model', which was chalked out to increase the efficiency of the check post, was a success and similar projects would be launched in other ckeckposts in the State, the Minister said.

'' The documents relating to goods coming into the State were systematically recorded and these would be used to verify the sales tax returns of businessmen in various districts,'' he said.

He said in an 'adalat' to be conducted tomorrow, around 4,000 pending cases relating to sales tax and VAT were expected to be resolved, which could fetch about Rs three to four crore for the government.

Mr Issac said inorder to check corruption, the arbitary power of officials concerned would be taken away, checking of shops would be conducted only after verification of the records at offices and the tax forms made available through official websites.

He said the government would raise the issue of certain States fixing tax rates less than the floor rate for certain commodities with the VAT empowered committee.

As part of the campaign, a document enumerating the rights of the merchants relating to VAT would also be released tomorrow.

The Minister said the 'Kerala Lottery' would be relaunched in December with hologram marks, whereby the prizes would be given across the counter without any delay.

UNI