The Punjab Council of Ministers which held a meeting at Chandigarh today has decided to impose a levy Value Added Tax (VAT) at the rate of 4 % on mosquito repellents, wood preservative, toilet cleaners, , chemicals for killing domestic insects, termicides, phenyle and similar other products which are not used for agriculture purpose. This decision would yield a revenue of Rs 10 crore annually.

The decision to impose VAT comes a fortnight before the state legislative assembly is slated to hold its session. The state government has already announced that the Punjab Vidhan sabha, the state legislative assembly shall begin from February 27. The February-March session of the state assembly is generally the budget session. With parliamentary elections around the corner, the budget, if presented in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is expected to be a no taxes budget. However another opinion with the government is that the government should not go ahead with the presentation of the budget and should opt for a vote on account.