Advantages of VAT

Since ages always a reform is made for the benefit in the process of development. It was Chanakya who first wrote that a government should tax its people like a shepherd shears his flock or a bee gets nectar from a flower. But apparently that fiscal wisdom died with him. Let us not experience the same with VAT in India. It has a baggage full of benefits. Few advantages of VAT in India are mentioned below.

It will be a virtual crime not to look to the other side of the coin of the Indian VAT system. Disadvantages will always give birth to amendments to the existing policy so that traders can ride jerk free on it adding value to the existing Indian taxation system. We have also discussed upon the friction of VAT below.

Advantages of VAT

In the advantages part we will first look after the broad coverage of VAT in the Indian market. Then we will consider the level of security the Indian VAT is having on our revenues. Obviously the selection of items to be covered by VAT in India will be given a bullet to think upon and at last we will check out the co-ordination VAT in India will be having with our existing direct tax system.

1) Coverage

If the tax is carried through the retail level, it offers all the economic advantages of a tax that includes the entire retail price within its scope, at the same time the direct payment of the tax is spread out and over a large number of firms instead of being concentrated on particular groups, such as wholesalers or retailers.

If retailers do evade, tax will be lost only on their margins because customers that are registered firms gain nothing if their suppliers fail to collect tax, except delay in payment; they will pay more to the government themselves. Under other forms of sales tax, both seller and customer gain by evading tax. One particular advantage is that of the widening of the tax base by bringing all transactions into the tax net. Specifically, VAT gives the new government the opportunity to bring back into the tax system all those persons and entities who were given tax exemptions in one form or another by the previous regime.

2) Revenue security

VAT represents an important instrument against tax evasion and is superior to a business tax or a sales tax from the point of view of revenue security for three reasons.

In the first place, under VAT it is only buyers at the final stage who have an interest in undervaluing their purchases, since the deduction system ensures that buyers at earlier stages will be refunded the taxes on their purchases. Therefore, tax losses due to undervaluation should be limited to the value added at the last stage. Under a retail sales tax, on the other hand, retailer and consumer have a mutual interest in underdeclaring the actual purchase price.

Secondly, under VAT, if payment of tax is successfully avoided at one stage nothing will be lost if it is picked up at a later stage; and even if it is not picked up subsequently, the government will at least have collected the VAT paid at stages previous to that at which the tax was avoided; while if evasion takes place at the final stage the state will lose only the tax on the value added at that point.

If evasion takes place under a sales tax, on the other hand, all the taxes due on the product are lost to the government.

A significant advantage of the value added form in any country is the cross-audit feature. Tax charged by one firm is reported as a deduction by the firms buying from it. Only on the final sale to the consumer is there no possibility of cross audit.

Cross audit is possible with any form of sales tax, but the tax-credit feature emphasises and simplifies it and is likely to make firms more careful not to evade because they know of the possibility of cross check.

3) Selectivity

VAT may be selectively applied to specific goods or business entities. We have already addressed essential goods and small business. In addition the VAT does not burden capital goods because the consumption-type VAT provides a full credit for the tax included in purchases of capital goods. The credit does not subsidize the purchase of capital goods; it simply eliminates the tax that has been imposed on them.

4) Co-ordination of VAT with direct taxation

Most taxpayers cheat on their sales not to evade VAT but to evade personal and corporate income taxes. The operation of a VAT resembles that of the income tax more than that of other taxes, and an effective VAT greatly aids income tax administration and revenue collection. It is interesting to note that when Trinidad and Tobago set out to introduce VAT it chose one of its top income tax administrators as the VAT Commissioner.

It must be stressed once again that if properly implemented VAT can ultimately lead to a reduction in overall rates of tax.

Revenues will not be sacrificed but would in fact be enhanced as a consequence of the broadened tax base. This does not seem to be a bad idea at all.

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Keywords:

taxation, direct taxation, indirect taxation, tax planing, tax, value added tax, vat, vat in india, revenue security