கார்பரேட்டுகளுக்கு வரி சலுகை

ஆண்டு தோறும் மத்திய பட்ஜெட் அறிக்கையில் வரிசலுகைகளால் ஏற்றபடும்  வருமான இழப்பு என்று ஒரு பகுதி இருக்கும். அதில் குறிப்பிடும் நிகர தொகையை (சுமார் 6 லச்சம் கோடிகள்) பிடித்து கொண்டு பலரும் கார்ப்பரேட்டுகளுக்கு வரி சலுகை என்று ஒற்றை வரியில் பேசுவது வழமை.

2012இல் இதை பற்றி ஆய்வு மேற்கொண்ட இரு நிபுணர்கள் அளித்த அறிக்கையில்
இருந்து :

சுங்க வரி மற்றும் உற்பத்தி வரி குறைப்பினால் ஏற்படும் இழப்பு : ரூ.4.36 லச்சம் கோடி என்று சொல்லப்படுகிறது. 1991இல் இருந்த வரி விகிதங்களை அப்படியே இன்றும் குறைக்காமல் தொடர்ந்திருந்தால் கிடைத்திருக்கும் உபரி வரி வசூல் இந்த தொகை என்று கணக்கு. ஆனால்
1991இல் திவால் நிலையில் இருந்து மீள, அன்று நிலவிய மிக மிக அதிக வரி விகிதங்களை படிப்படியாக குறைத்து, வளர்ச்சியை மேம்படுத்தினோம். வரி விகிதங்கள் 1991இல் :

கார்ப்பரேட் வரி : 51.75 சதம் (இன்று சுமார் 33 சதம்)
உற்பத்தி வரி : உச்சபட்சமாக 50 சதம் (இன்று சுமார் 12 சதம்)
சுங்க வரி : உச்சபட்சமாக 400 சதம் (இன்று சுமார் 30 சதம்)

70களில் உச்சபட்ச வருமான வரி சுமார் 98 சதம் அளவுக்கு இருந்தது. இன்று சுமார் 33 சதம்.

ஆனால் அன்று மொத்த ஜிடிபியில் கார்ப்பரேட் வரி வசூல் ஒரு சதம் தான். வரியை ஓரளவு நியாயமான அளவுக்கு குறைத்த பின் இன்று கார்பரேட் வரி வசூல் ஜிடிபியில் சுமார் 3.7 சதம். அதாவது மூன்று மடங்குக்கு மேல் அதிகரித்துள்ளது.

பெரும்பாலான மக்கள் உபயோக்கிக்கும் மருந்து, பல்பொடி, கெரசின், மெழுகுவர்த்தி போன்ற பண்டங்களுக்கு அளிக்கபடும் உற்பத்தி வரி சலுகை மூலம் ஏற்படும் ’இழப்பு’ ரூ.1.98 கோடிகள். இவை பொதுமக்களுக்கு அளிக்கப்ப்படும் சலுகை தான்.

ஏற்றுமதியாளர்களுக்கு அளிக்கப்ட்ட வரிசலுகை : 1.74 லச்சம் கோடி என்று கணக்கு.  1991இல் அன்னிய செலாவணி அறவே இல்லாமல், இறக்குமதி செய்ய டாலர்கள் இல்லாமல், தங்கத்தை அடமானம் வைக்க வேண்டிய ஆபத்தான நிலை. அன்னிய செலாவணியை ஈட்ட ஏற்றுமதியை ஊக்கபடுத்த, ஏற்றுமதியாளர்களுக்கு மிகுந்த வரி சலுகைகள் மன்மோகன் சிங் 1991இல்
அளித்ததால், ஏற்றுமதி படு வேகமாக வளர்ந்து பல லச்சம் கோடி டாலர்கள் அன்னிய செலவாணியை ஈட்டி, ரூபாயின் மதிப்பை சமபடுத்தி, விலைவாசி உயர்வை கட்டுபடுத்தியது. வரி விகிதங்களை குறைக்காமல் இது சாத்தியமில்லை.

வளர்ச்சியே இல்லாத பிந்தங்கிய மாவட்டங்களில் தொழில்களை துவக்க பல வகையான வரிசலுகைகள் அளித்தன் மூலம் ஏற்பட்ட ‘இழப்பு’ 12,880 கோடி. பின் தங்கிய பகுதிகளில் புதிய தொழில்கள், வேலை வாய்ப்புகள் உருவாக வகை செய்ததை இழப்பு என்று வகைபடுத்த முடியாது.

நடுத்தர வர்கத்தினருக்கு அளிக்கப்படும் வருமான வரி சலுகைகள் மூலம் ஏற்பட்ட ‘இழப்பு  ரூ.42,330 கோடிகள். இதற்க்கும் கார்ப்பரேட்டுகளுக்கும் சம்பதம் இல்லை.

மிக மிக அதிக வரி விதித்தால் தான் வரி வசூலை மிக அதிகரிக்க செய்ய முடியும் என்ற கருத்து பொய்பிக்கபட்டது 1991க்கு பிறகு தான். 1990இல் நிகர வரி வசூல் ரூ.44,185 கோடிகள் தான். 2012-13இல் : ரூ.9,75,701 கோடிகள். சுமார் 20 மடங்கு உயர்வுக்கு காரணம் இந்த வரி சலுகைகள் தான் முக்கிய காரணம். உற்பத்திகான லைசென்ஸ் கட்டுபாடுகளை ஒழித்ததும், அன்னிய நேரடி முதலீடுகளை அனுமதித்ததும் இதர காரணிகள்.

Tax exemptions: it’s not just the fat cats who benefit

Posted on 2012.May.27 under ArticlesThe Times of India.


While discussing higher petrol prices, TV anchor Arnab Goswami asked why the middle class shouldn’t get a big petrol subsidy when corporations got tax breaks of Rs 529,000 crore. He got this huge figure from an annual budget document calculating “revenue foregone” through various tax exemptions and exceptions.
The left has long decried this “revenue foregone” as corporate loot. Sorry, but this is claptrap. The economic assumptions of the budget document are illiterate enough to make an undergraduate blush. The methodology assumes that a rise or fall in tax rates does not impact demand. Really? Does anybody believe that a higher petrol tax will have no effect on petrol demand? Of course it will. Similarly, a tax cut will stimulate demand.
This is why taxes were cut in 2008-09-to generate a big stimulus for an economy hit by the Great Recession. At the time, the left supported a strong stimulus to help the aam admi. Yet today, some tax cuts are being called “revenue foregone” and decried as corporate loot.
The great tax lesson of economic reform is that cutting tax rates does not necessarily mean less revenue, and may mean hugely increased revenue. Since 1991, taxes have been slashed on incomes and goods, yet tax revenue has remained around 9-10% of GDP. Revenue has not been foregone.
The corporate tax rate was 51.75% in 1991, and collections were about 1% of GDP. The corporate tax rate today is down to 30% (plus some surcharges and cesses). Has there been a huge revenue loss? On the contrary, corporate tax collections have skyrocketed to 3.7% of GDP! Besides, lower tax rates have spurred much faster GDP growth, so the government is getting 3.7% of a far larger economic cake.
The finance ministry must abandon its ridiculous methodology for calculating “revenue foregone.” I am all for exposing the long list of tax exemptions, many of which are unwarranted, but oppose nonsensical calculations that mislead instead of clarifying.
The notion that tax exemptions are aimed only at fat cats is false. Rajiv Kumar and SK Ghosh of Ficci recently calculated that of the supposed “revenue foregone,” Rs 198,291 crore comprises tax breaks duty for mass consumption goods like medicine, toothpowder, candles and kerosene. These are aimed directly at the aam admi. Revenue forgone also includes massive tax breaks for crude and petroleum products (an estimated Rs 58,190 crore in 2012-13). So, in a sense, Arnab’s wish has come true: the middle class is getting a big oil tax break!
Kumar and Ghosh calculate that another Rs 174,418 crore of “revenue foregone” comprises import duty concessions for inputs into export production. Exempting such inputs is standard global practice. It would be stupid to tax and maim exports.
In 1991, Manomohan Singh made software exports tax-free. They zoomed, creating created millions of jobs, and these employees contributed huge sums to the exchequer through direct and indirect taxes. Was this just corporate loot?
Another Rs 50,658 crore of exemptions relate to insurance premia, contributions to charities, interest payments on loans for higher education, etc. This aids the middle class, not Tata and Birla.
Excise duty concessions have been given to industria l investors in hilly, backward states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The demand did not come from corporates but politicians who said such tax breaks were essential to lift their backwardness and reduce inter-state disparities. Many tax breaks have been given for scheduled castes and tribes, and sundry other vote banks.
The government gives tax breaks for R&D to encourage it. How can you call this corporate loot? Accelerated depreciation is often given to encourage more investment. Is it a crime for investors to respond to this by investing more?
Tax exemptions have been given for special economic zones. I myself have opposed this, arguing that exporters in such zones require world-class infrastructure rather than tax breaks. Nevertheless, the fact is that exports from these SEZs have zoomed.
China is the world leader in SEZs. These have helped make it the fastest growing country in the world, with the fastest poverty reduction in history. Has China massively foregone revenue in SEZs, just to benefit fat cats? Only the ideologically blind will think so.
Now, i myself have long opposed many tax exemptions and exceptions as unwarranted distortions benefiting crony businessmen and vote banks. We need a tax code that is more or less uniform across goods and services, and across states and industries. Only minimal exceptions and exemptions should be permitted for clearly articulated goals like poverty reduction or exports. So, to some extent, the left and i agree on this. But we emphatically disagree on what is “revenue foregone”, and on who benefits.


Tax structure: The one chart that underlines the importance of reforms
The composition of India’s tax structure has changed dramatically since liberalization of the Indian economy in 1991


The surge in corporate taxes is directly linked to the freeing up of the economy, lowering of marginal tax rates, and the development of India’s capital market since 1991. Photo: Mint
Over the past few years, a spate of high-level corruption scandals has sharply dented the credibility of Indian capitalism. The rationale for economic reforms has also been called to question, given that India’s plutocrats and politicians seem to have captured a large share of the gains from reforms. In this environment of cynicism, it is easy to forget that corporations today contribute much more to the public exchequer than they did in the pre-liberalization era.
Indeed, it is precisely because of economic liberalization that India today has a far more robust and progressive tax structure than earlier. As the accompanying chart shows, the composition of India’s tax structure has changed dramatically since liberalization of the Indian economy in 1991.
In fiscal year 1991, India’s tax system was highly dependent on indirect taxes, widely considered as more regressive than direct taxes because they affect the rich and the poor alike. Since then, the proportion of direct taxes has been steadily rising. The share of direct taxes in total taxes eclipsed the share of indirect taxes in fiscal 2007, and has remained higher ever since. The surge in direct taxes is largely because of a phenomenal increase in corporate taxes, which have grown at an annual clip of 20% since 1991, the fastest among all major categories of taxes. The share of corporate taxes alone eclipsed the share of total indirect taxes in fiscal 2009, and has remained higher since then.
The share of income taxes has also risen thanks to simplification of tax rules and better tax administration, but that story is well known. The sharper rise in corporate taxes is relatively under-emphasized. Instead, after each budget, we hear stories of revenues foregone thanks to writeoffs for corporations. Such stories are partial and ignore the profound transformation in India’s tax structure over the past two decades, fuelled by the rise in corporate taxes.
The surge in corporate taxes is directly linked to the freeing up of the economy, lowering of marginal tax rates, and the development of India’s capital market since 1991. Before 1991, high tax rates and the lack of a well-developed capital market meant that most corporations and their promoters had an incentive to under-report profits or net incomes. That changed after 1991, as more companies were listed on the bourses, and Indian stock markets emerged as a key source of funds for corporations. The market capitalization of all firms listed on BSE as a proportion of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) was a lowly 17% in 1991. The market-cap to GDP ratio crossed the 50% mark at the end of fiscal 2000, and reached 71% at the end of the last fiscal year.
Companies began vying with each other over the past two decades to declare higher profits to attract more investors, leading to better reporting of net incomes. The government was an indirect beneficiary of this process, as it saw its coffers swell because of higher tax revenues even as tax rates fell.
The Indian government’s ability to extract higher revenues from corporations is among the biggest success stories of the economic reforms, and one that has given the government the scope to fund ambitious social sector schemes.
It is important to recognize this success to appreciate the potential and the need for the next round of economic reforms.


http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-06-07/news/32101179_1_excise-duty-concessions-tariff-rates#.VL8r6IdjS7U.gmail
Area and sector-specific tax sops spur investment, so counting these as revenue forgone is wrong
ET Bureau Jun 7, 2012, 03.53AM IST
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http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/images/pixel.gif

Rajiv Kumar & Soumya Kanti Ghosh
The recent increase in petrol prices has expectedly created a raging storm. Hence, our focus in this piece is to debunk the long-standing myth of revenue forgone in successive Union Budgets.
Alternatively, it has now become fashionable to argue that the central government regularly forgoes huge amount of revenues (read: to the industry) and, hence, there is no harm in continuing with demerit subsidies. Unfortunately, the argument has been made by Prof Amartya Sen, who was clearly misled by some of his associations.
We believe such an argument is factually incorrect and it is better to set the record straight again in public domain.
First, the accompanying graphic shows the arithmetic of revenue forgone beginning 2006-07. The supporters of subsidies have argued that the revenue forgone is 5.3 lakh crore in 2011-12, and is exactly equivalent to the size of the country's fiscal deficit at 5.9% of GDP in the financial year.
However, four things are important here. First, the size of revenue forgone in terms of customs and excise-duty concessions amounting to 4.36 lakh crore, or 4.9% of GDP. This is equivalent to counting the reduction in peak tariffs since 1991 as revenue forgone. The obvious fallacy in doing so is that we completely ignore growth that is engendered by these measures.
As far as excise duty is concerned, the central government has been granted powers under Section 5A(1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944, to issue exemption notifications in public interest to prescribe duty rates lower than the tariff rates prescribed in the schedules.
The lower tariff rates are specifically applicable to mass-consumption goods such as medicines, toothpowder, candles, postcards, sewing needles, kerosene stoves, etc, to benefit the masses.
The customs duty concessions are for importable goods consumed for exports as defined under Section 25(1) of the Customs Act. It is important to note in this context that import duties on components used for export are universally exempt all over the world as it is an established convention that taxes are not supposed to be exported.
Moreover, is it anybody's case that these import duty concessions to be removed because, by doing so, we may lose a significant part of our total export revenue. (Of this, gems and jewellery alone contribute close to 15% of exports.)
Second are the area-based initiatives - amounting to 12,880 crore, or 0.1% of GDP - given in hilly areas, north-east and states enjoying special status, such as Jammu & Kashmir. There is nothing wrong in area-based initiatives but, more importantly, these cannot then be counted as part of revenue forgone.
Third are the so-called personal income-tax concessions for the salaried class: amounting to 42,330 crore, or 0.47% of GDP. These are concessions to the middle class and do not concern the corporate sector.