Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur inaugurated the Tax Haat Programme of State Taxes and Excise Department here today. On this occasion, Chief Minister said that Tax Haat is the pioneer system for improvement in tax adherence. He said that tax has important role to play in the development and prosperity of the Nation. While appreciating the officers and officials of the State Taxes and Excise Department he said that due to their continuous efforts the revenue of the State has increased from Rs. 11 crore in 1974-75 to Rs. 7044 crore in 2020-21. Chief Minister said that the journey of tax administration of Himachal Pradesh started with the General Sale Tax Act in 1968 which has reached to the present Goods and Service Tax after crossing Value Added Tax Act, 2005. Today the GST has completed four years of its successful implementation making the One Nation One Tax significant.
Chief Minister said that the State government has always considered the hardships of businessmen because businessmen has important role in tax collection. Keeping in view the problems of businessmen, State Taxes and Excise Department has established Tax Facilitation Centres at District level where businessmen may get their excise related problems resolved. Grievance Redressal Portal has also been started through Mukhyamantri Seva Sankalp for the resolution of grievance of businessmen where grievances could be registered at 1100. Jai Ram Thakur said that establishment of Tax Haat was 2021-22 budget announcement of the Himachal Pradesh government which has been fulfilled today. Through this service the tax related queries of all stakeholders would be resolved in a stipulated period. He said that the government has provided many concessions to businessmen in GST. It was a matter of relief for the small businessmen. He said that for lump sum tax payment limit has been increased from 50 lakh to 1.5 crore under composition scheme.
The businessmen have also been provided relief from submitting monthly return through Tri-monthly Return Monthly Payment Scheme. The government has given the facility of filing zero return through mobile to businessmen having zero return. He said that keeping in view the difficulties faced by the businessmen during the Covid period, the government provided relaxation in time limit of filing the return. He hoped that in future also the department would continue to work in facilitating revenue collection and businessmen class. On this occasion Chief Minister released the logo and launched the Twitter and Facebook page of the department. Chief Minister released the book on the 51 years of glorious journey of State Taxes and Excise Department. On this occasion, a curtain raiser was also shown about the website of the department. Additional Chief Secretary J.C Sharma said that under the Tax Haat Programme, time bound redressal of the problems of the stakeholders would be done in three phases. Through the online medium, taxpayers can raise their problems and queries through the website of the department, which would be resolved by the concerned officers within a stipulated period.
He said that complaints, issues and queries would be redressed by the department from time to time by establishing direct communication with the taxpayers at district and zonal level through offline medium. He said that a Businessmen Facilitation Cell has been established in the department to take up the issues of the stakeholders at the higher level. The GST Council and the Businessman Facilitation Cell on policy matters along with its recommendations would send suggestions about solutions to the government through online and offline modes. On this occasion, he also provided information about many important initiatives of the department. On this occasion, State Taxes and Excise Commissioner Yunus informed about various activities of the department. Additional Commissioner Sunil Sharma and other senior officers of the department were also present on the occasion.
