KATHMANDU: Finance minister Surendra Pandey today said that the contribution of the private sector to revenue generation has been negligible.

“A new tax structure is necessary to include every level of citizen in the social security fold,” Pandey said addressing a post-budget interaction organised by Nepal Chambers of Commerce (NCC) here.

Minister Pandey also said that every sector including the private sector should honestly register itself under PAN to solve the problem of price hike. This would bring everyone in the tax net, he added.

Countering the minister’s stance, NCC general secretary Kishore Kumar Agrawal said that the government has been trying to compensate for the inadequate revenue collection by increasing the tax rate, and that in turn has resulted in unsual rise in the prices of food products.

He suggested that the government maintain an equilibrium between the supply and demand curve in order to curb the price hike. “The government should introduce a buffer system in order to regulate the market supply and there should be monitoring agencies to control the fake scarcity of food and other consumer items,” said Agrawal.

Food Supply Association representative Krishna Man Shrestha suggested that instead of conducting raids the government introduce policies to increase the production rate.

“The government should come up with solutions to cope with the problem of India putting a stop to import and creating crisis,” said Shrestha adding that the government should sign an agreement with India in order to mitigate this problem.

However, NCC president Surendra Bir Malakar said that both the government and private sector should take the Public-Private-Partnership approach in all programmes.

“In order to control the price hike, the government should introduce a tax-free or certain per centage concession system in consumer goods,” said Malakar.

He added that continuous strikes and bandhs have contributed to

decline in production of industrial goods.

He also requested the government to introduce harsh rules to control such activities.

Minister Pandey assured that the introduction of multiple VAT system in food products would reduce the existing condition of fake price hike in the market.

The minister requested entrepreneurs to maintain the prices of their products at not more than 20 per cent above as mentioned in the price list. He warned them not to enter false amounts while registering with customs and later sell these at higher rates.