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TMI Blog1994 (2) TMI 285X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... has been levied at the preceding point of sale, by declaring such levy as illegal, arbitrary and violative of article 14 of the Constitution of India. Under the Sixth Schedule read with section 5 of the Act, all liquors other than toddy and arrack are taxable at every point of sale other than at the point of last sale in the State at 25 per cent and at the point of last sale at the rate of 5 per cent. But under the proviso, in the case of any point of sale other than the first sale or last sale, the turnover will be arrived at by deducting the turnover of such goods on which tax has been levied immediately at the preceding point of sale. Thus, the tax on Indian Made Foreign Liquor is in the nature of a value added tax. "Turnover" is defi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Act, the other charging sections *Here italicised. are section 5-A (turnover tax), section 5-C (tax on hotels and eating houses), 5-E (tax on right to use goods), section 6 (tax on declared goods), section 6A (tax on purchase of any goods in certain circumstances), section 6-B (surcharge on sales tax), and section 6-C (rate of tax on packing material). In the matter of levy of tax there are four components, i.e., taxable person, taxable event, taxable measure and rate of tax. [See [1985] 60 STC 1 (SC) (Govind Saran Ganga Saran v. Commissioner of Sales Tax)]. For levy of various charges as mentioned above, it is open to the Legislature to prescribe various ingredients. For example, in the case of liquor for the purpose of tax under section ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he words used in the Act are unequivocal, Statement of Objects and Reasons in the Bill, cannot be taken aid of. In the instant case, section 5-A of the Act is categorical in saying that tax is leviable on the total turnover whether or not the whole or any portion of any such turnover is liable to tax (emphasis* supplied). In view of this categorical expression, the Statement of Objects and Reasons cannot be relied on. Even otherwise the Statement of Objects and Reasons says: "1. In order to mobilise additional resources, Government have decided to levy a turnover tax on the gross turnover instead of the net turnover as presently done by the existing section 5-A of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957. 2.. Under the Andhra Prades ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ted from basic tax under section 9 of the Act, the deduction of turnover in liquor which has suffered tax at the preceding point of sale must also be construed as statutory exemption and consequently not liable to turnover tax and that if interpreted otherwise it will amount to discrimination against liquor dealers. In other words, the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners is that by providing for deduction of turnover that has suffered tax at the preceding point of sale while arriving at the net turnover for the purpose of levying tax under the Sixth Schedule read with section 5 of the Act, the Legislature in effect exempted the turnover that has suffered tax at the preceding point of sale from the tax payable under the Act ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t the preceding point and there is no bar on the Legislature from levying turnover tax under section 5-A on the gross turnover of liquor in addition to the tax under section 5. There is no such restriction in the case of liquor as in the case of declared goods which under section 15 of the Central Sales Tax Act cannot be taxed by any State at more than one point and at more than 4 per cent. This is also the reason why under the proviso to section 5-A, turnover on declared goods has been exempted from turnover tax. The learned counsel for the petitioners relies on section 10 of the Andhra Pradesh General Clauses Act. We fail to appreciate how this is relevant. Thus, we reject this contention also. Now let us examine the decisions cited by t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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