Value Added Tax in North-East India

The book is an edited volume of nineteen articles interdisciplinary in nature presented in the National Seminar organized in Dera Natung Government College, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh on the theme, Value Added Tax in North-East States- Issues and Strategies on February 15-16, 2008. Value Added Tax (VAT) was, no doubt, fiscal innovation of early 1960s It has drawn world-wide attention as it has brought more-wide attention as it has brought more transparency in tax related activities. Most of the countries have adopted VAT in varying degrees to reform their commodity taxation system. This will lead to better tax compliance, higher tax revenue growth, higher efficiency, equal competition and fairness in tax system. VAT is a giant step towards the country's tax reforms as much as towards a unifying common market in the country. In India. The concept of VAT was introduced first in the Budget for 1975-76, in which all items not subjected to excise duties were brought under ad valorem duty of 1 per cent. The States in North-East region are the most underdeveloped states in India. The states being late starters in the process of development,it is required to make large investment in both service sector and infrastructure creation through the resource mobilising activities. The practical experiences of many developing countries have proved that if VAT is properly designed and implemented, it may prove a better resource mobiliser than the sales tax system. The present volume has examined and analysed three issues such as Value Added Tax: Issues and Strategies in North East States; Value Added Tax in India. Issues and Strategy and Present Scenario of VAT in Arunachal Pradesh overall with its implementation and limitation in the country in general and in North-East States in particular.

Ram Krishna Mandal ( b.1966, in West Bengal) has been serving as Reader in Economics, Dera Natung Government College, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. He completed his graduation with honours in Economics from Balurghat College, Balurghat (West Bengal) and took his higher education with M.A. in Economics with Distinction, M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Economics, BLIS and B.Ed. from the North Bengal University, Darjeeling (West Bengal). He is a member of Research Centre for Social Sciences, Mumbai, North-East India Council for Social Science Research, Shillong, North Eastern Economic Association, Guwahati and Social Science Research Institute of Arunachal Pradesh, Itanagar. To his credit, he has forty research papers on national and regional issues published in various reputed academic National and International journals. He has authored three books: (i) Micro-economic Theory, (ii) Socio- Economic Transformation of Arunachal Pradesh and (iii) Money, Income and Rational Expectations in Indian Economy.