PLEA TO REDUCE SERVICE TAX

 The Tamilnadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has made a plea for a reduction in the rate of service tax from 12 per cent to 8 per cent. The Senior Chamber President Mr S. Rethinavelu, while welcoming the package announced by the Prime Minister to mitigate the evil effects of the global meltdown as a bold decision, particularly the decision to reduce the CENVAT on all products, barring petroleum products by 4 per cent, said that there is a need to reduce the service tax from its present rate of 12 per cent to 8 per cent. The Central sales tax could be done away with and the top slab of 12.5 per cent in the State VAT may be reduced to 8.5 per cent, he said, in a statement here.