Court raps actor Dhanush over entry tax petition on import of luxury car
Chennai, Aug 5: After top star Vijay, actor Dhanush on Thursday received a court rap for challenging Entry Tax on import of a luxury car, with the judge remarking that lesser earning individuals were promptly paying taxes and not knocking at the doors of the judiciary for possible relief.
Justice SM Subramaniam, who had earlier made some strong observations against Vijay for moving the court against levy of Entry Tax for his imported Rolls Royce Ghost car earlier, on Thursday directed Dhanush to pay a sum of Rs 30.30 lakh within 48 hours.
"You drive the luxury car on the roads laid using the taxpayers' money. Even a milk vendor and a daily wage labourer are paying taxes for every litre of petrol they buy.
None of them approach the court seeking exemption from such taxes," the judge said.
After pulling up the national award-winning actor- producer for moving the Court challenging the imposition of entry tax for the import of his Rolls Royce Ghost car for Rs 2.15 crore from England in 2015, the judge directed Dhanush to pay Rs 30.30 lakh, the balance amount of the entry tax within 48 hours, to the Commercial Tax department.
Dhanush had paid half of the Rs 60.60 lakh of entry tax earlier.
The judge also directed the Registry to ensure that affidavits filed by the litigants in writ petitions are entertained on compliance of the requirements as contemplated under the 'Madras High Court Writ Rules, 2021'.
As Dhanush did not mention his profession in the column before filing the petition and left it blank, the judge gave this direction.
"Dhanush had suppressed the fact", the judge remarked.
In the event of any lapses, negligence or dereliction on the part of the officials concerned, the Registrar-General of the High Court shall initiate appropriate action under the Service Rules in force, the judge added.
When the petition came up before the judge earlier in the morning, he rapped Dhanush for not paying the entry tax promptly, even after the Supreme Court had directed him to do so.
Possibly fearing being pulled up, like Vijay, Dhanush's counsel prayed for court's permission to withdraw his petition. The judge, however, refused to oblige.
The counsel told the judge Dhanush had already paid 50 per cent of the tax and now he was willing to pay the remainder.
Hence, he might be allowed to withdraw the petition, the counsel said, adding that he had filed necessary memo in this regard.
Rejecting the plea, the judge pointed out that the petition was pending since 2015.
"If your intentions are genuine, you should have paid the tax at least after the Supreme Court settled the issue in 2018. Now after the High Court listed the matter for orders, you are seeking to withdraw," the judge said.
"No doubt that it is your right to move the court.
But you should have paid the tax and withdrawn the petition at least after the apex court had settled the issue in 2018," the court added.
The judge then directed the commercial tax officer concerned to be present in the court with a demand for the pending tax to be paid by the actor by afternoon.
In the afternoon, the judge recorded the demand notice from the CTO and passed the order.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
