Kolkata, Feb. 12 -- The state government will continue with its scheme of waiver (zero rate) of Agricultural Income Tax to provide relief to the tea industry.
State Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya on Wednesday announced while tabling the state Budget that the Bengal government has decided to extend the benefit for another year till March 31, 2026. In March 2022, while delivering her Budget speech, Bhattacharya had announced a waiver of the agricultural income tax for the financial year 2022-23 to provide relief to tea gardens, especially smaller ones. The agricultural income tax is calculated on the profit made by selling green tea leaves and is at least 30 per cent
of the profit.In the tea industry, 60 per cent of the profit earned by any estate is considered agricultural income and agricultural income tax is calculated based on this figure. The remaining 40 per cent of profit earned by a tea company or tea garden owner is considered for computation of income tax. Rajeev Singh, director general, ICC said: "To promote the GI-tagged Darjeeling Tea industry, the government has extended the waiver on any state tax on income from tea production for one more year.
This will help to improve the state export potential for tea."
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.