In contrast to dipping inflation rates, prices of lot of items in the state have gone up from June 1.

In its decision (notification no 796) taken by the state government on May 27, about 200 items will see an extra tax ranging from half to 1% being imposed on them. Officials hope that this tax will see the state exchequer getting richer by Rs 900 crore.

According to state tax department, all the items listed under notification-2 which currently have 4% Value Added Tax (VAT) on them. The government has decided to impose half per cent tax on them. Similarly, all the items listed under notification-5 which currently have 12.5 per cent VAT will see an extra one per cent tax being levied on them.

On the other hand, the government has removed two to five per cent entry tax on several items like refrigerators, ACs, laptops, all types of cables, marble stones, clinkers, all types of wooden timbers and all the machinery in the range above Rs 10 lakh. Apart from that, products like wheat, rice, steel, coal and pulses remain free from the new tax regime. The law says these are essential goods and tax cannot be higher than four per cent on them.

Traders in the city have protested the move and they say that such acts are against the benefits of the general masses.