Parliament on Tuesday completed the three-stage Budget exercise with Rajya Sabha returning the Finance Bill, 2003 after Finance Minister Jaswant Singh promised to move towards simplified 'Green Channel Tax System' based on trust.

The Finance Bill, which gives effect to taxation proposals in the Budget, was passed by the Lok Sabha last week.

Along with this, the relevant Appropriation Bill to meet government expenditure for various ministries this year was also returned by the Upper House.

Winding up the discussion on the two money bills, Singh made it clear that value added tax will be introduced in the country only after all states complete preparations for its implementation.

The minister said with VAT being an important step in reforming the tax structure, he did not want it to become a vexatious tax system with improper implementation.

The lowering of central sales tax and providing compensation to states for any loss in revenue was linked to the implementation of VAT and it would be taken up at an appropriate time, he said.

Elaborating on government's commitment to simplify tax system, Singh admitted the complexities of notifications and said the endeavour would be to simplify them so that the relationship with tax payers was no longer 'adversorial'.

It was precisely for this reason that the government was trying to reduce the interface with the tax payers through computerisation and slowly moving away from discretionary powers.

Claiming that the ex-factory price of 15-kg tin of some brands of edible oil has fallen by Rs.47, he said, "I am confident that in the coming weeks, it will fall further."

Likewise, he said, the concessions announced for the textile sector during the passage of the Bill in the Lok Sabha, have by and large been welcomed by the trade and industry, and weavers and workers in the garment industry.    

Referring to Service Tax on education, he said this would not be applicable to any formal education but only to tutorials and multiple academies preparing students for Indian Administrative Service, etc.

He also made it clear that the concessions given to the North Eastern region were not being abandoned as claimed by some members, but steps were being taken to check its misuse.