Dear Amir,
What I mean by the words tax on tax is not the cascading effect of tax. Let me illustrate my logic on this issue:
If the contractor has levied Rs.100 as vat (works contract tax) in his invoice, so in his monthly vat return he has to pay this 100/= to the govt vide his vat return immediately in the subsequent month. But what he actually recovers from me as VAT is only 98/= for the balance Rs.2/= he gets a TDS certificate the benefit of which he will get in in Income Tax return.
Further,
VAT is state government's revenue while
income tax is a central government's revenue. So to that extent the state goverment looses its share of revenue.
In big work contracts this Rs.2/= (TDS on VAT ) would run in crores.
Hence my query.