The CA committee will include these provisions in its preliminary draft and concept paper for the new constitution. But the committee´s recommendations need to be endorsed by a two-thirds majority of the CA.[break]
The committee has proposed that customs duty, value added tax (VAT), corporate income tax and personal income tax be mobilized by the central government. The committee has said that customs duty needs to be mobilized only by the central government as international trade is regulated through the customs and as it relates to imports, exports, revenue and the government´s capacity to compete.
As VAT is evaluated in a chain at different points from the production phase onwards to be paid ultimately by the end-user, this tax is also recommended for mobilization by the central government in order not to break that chain, and also to avoid the problem of border tax adjustment.
Likewise, the committee has proposed that the central government look after carbon credit services as this involves an international dimension and the central government has to deal with the institutions involved to settle the amount to be received by the country. The central government will also collect taxes from casinos.
The CA committee has proposed to entrust provincial governments with the collection of transport tax.
The committee is for allowing local governments to collect land revenue, property tax and business tax.
It has proposed that excise duty be collected and distributed in coordination between the central and provincial governments while service charges, royalty from natural resources and penalties should be collected and distributed among the three levels of government.
Similarly, entertainment tax and land and building registration charges will be collected in coordination between provincial and local governments.
Casinos to get legality
The CA committee has unanimously decided to give the casino business statutory recognition in the new constitution.
At a meeting of the committee on Thursday, Laxman Ghimire of the Nepali Congress proposed not to mention the word casino in the constitution as this would be interpreted as giving statutory recognition to gambling.
During the discussion, several lawmakers argued that casinos should either be terminated or allowed only for foreign nationals. The 43-member committee passed the provision unanimously after adding the condition that casinos will be accessible only for foreign nationals.
Maoist lawmakers did not put forth their views on the matter clearly while endorsing the provision. Existing law prohibits Nepali nationals from gambling in casinos in Nepal.
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