Bring excise, service tax back to pre-crisis level: PM’s advisory panel

The prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) has advocated increasing excise duty and service tax to the pre-crisis level, even as it pitched for tougher action on subsidies. Expressing concern over the high fiscal deficit, which is expected to overshoot the target of 4.6 % of GDP this fiscal. Releasing the review of the economy for 2011-12, Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman, PMEAC, said: “The rate hike need not necessarily be done in one go, it could be done in phases”.