The happiest news of the day comes from pink city Jaipur! In a bid to appease Rajasthan farmers aggravated by the farmer protests in Madhya Pradesh, Raje government has exempted entry tax on combine harvester. This means, our farmers don’t have to pay an additional amount on sale, purchase or transportation of combine harvester in Rajasthan. This decision is applicable on all transactions made from April this year.
As per government officers, tax exemption on combine harvester was a long-standing demand of farmers. To ease pressure on agriculturists, the government has decided to grant their demands.
We may not realize it, but a combine harvester is of great importance to farmers. Commonly known as combine, this versatile machine is designed to deliver three separate agricultural operations in a single process, which includes reaping, threshing and winnowing of crops. It can harvest up to 25 hectares crops in a day. Not only this, it can handle different crop varieties. In short, it is multi-purpose agricultural equipment for farmers.
The farmers in Hadoti region, mainly Kota, Bundi, Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar use combine harvester machine to boost their agricultural efficiency. The price of combine harvester in Rajasthan varies from Rs 13,300 to Rs 1 lakh. As per laws, the consumers have to pay a fixed amount of tax on the market price of all four-wheeler vehicles.
The state levies 4% tax on the total price of the vehicle that costs up to Rs 3, 00,000. Earlier, when a farmer bought combine for Rs 70, 000, he had to pay an additional tax of Rs 2,800 (4% of 70000). Now that government has exempted taxes on combine harvester, Rajasthan farmers don’t need to pay any extra taxes.
The proposal for tax exemption was kept before Rajasthan finance ministry, which gave its final approval on June 8. Though the decision will be effective on all purchases taking place from April, in case a farmer has already paid the taxes, the finance department will not reimburse them. This may cause unrest among regular tax payers. The department is yet to come on a solid conclusion in this matter.
In any case, it’ll ease the fiscal burden on small-scale farmers in future. This decision was well-received by the farmers in Rajasthan. Mines minister Mr. Surendra Pal Singh especially thanked the chief minister for this move, on behalf of Rajasthan farmers.
