NEW DELHI | March 02, 2016: The labour ministry has identified four of the six cesses levied to promote workers' welfare it will axe as part of finance minister Arun Jaitley's announcement on Monday during his Budget speech that the government will abolish 13 cesses across ministries where collection is less than Rs 50 crore.

These include the cesses on mining of iron ore, manganese ore, limestone and dolomite, and chrome ore, some of which have been levied since 1972 and have become redundant as the expenditure incurred on collection is more than the cess itself, a senior government official told ET.

However, the cess on beedi workers as well as construction cess under the Building & Other Construction Workers Act will continue, said the official, who did not wish to be named.

The combined cess collected from iron ore, manganese ore and chrome ore mining stood at Rs 16.7 crore in 2015-16 compared with Rs 15.14 crore in the previous fiscal, while the annual revenue from cess on limestone and dolomite stood at Rs 15.98 crore in 2015-16 againstRs 14.46 crore.

"After repealing of obsolete laws, it was time to abolish various kinds of cess, which were not fetching enough revenues to the government as we go along to improve the ease of doing business in the country by reducing compliances and simplifying processes," the official said.

The move could spell a great relief for both taxpayers and tax collectors but is not unlikely to go down well with trade unions, which are up in arms against some of the recent decisions of the government, calling them pro-corporate.

"Revenue loss, even though small, by abolishing these cesses should be compensated by the government so that the welfare of the workers is not compromised," said DL Sachdeva of All India Trade Union Congress.

Cess was levied at the rate of Rs 1 per metric tonne on iron ore, Rs 4 per metric tonne on manganese ore and Rs 6 per metric tonne on chrome ore under the Iron Ore Mines, Manganese Ore Mines and Chrome Ore Mines Labour Welfare Cess Act, 1976.

Similarly, cess on limestone and dolomite was levied at Rs 1 per metric tonne under the Limestone and Dolomite Mines Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1972.

(Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/)