Total Turnover Governs Turnover Tax; statutory deductions cannot be expanded beyond the express language of the Act.

Section 6B(1) of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957 was construed to levy turnover tax on "total turnover" as defined in the Act, not on "taxable turnover". The Court applied strict construction of taxing statutes and held that a charging provision cannot be rewritten by substituting different statutory language or by adding deductions not expressly provided. The provisos were read as limiting deductions to those stated in the statute and as identifying the dealer class and slab rates. The challenge to treating total turnover as taxable turnover failed, and levy on the basis of total turnover, subject only to express statutory deductions, was upheld.

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Issues: Whether, for levy of turnover tax under Section 6B(1) of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957, the expression "total turnover" can be read as "taxable turnover" so as to exclude transactions not liable to tax under the Act.

Analysis: Section 6B(1) uses the expression "total turnover" as defined in Section 2(1)(u2) of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957, and not "taxable turnover" under Section 2(1)(u1). The provision and its provisos show that the term is used to identify the class of dealers and prescribe the applicable slab rates, while the exclusions are confined to those specifically provided in the statute. The Court relied on the settled principle that taxing statutes must be strictly construed and that a court cannot read into the charging provision words that are not there. The contention that the provision should be read down to mean only taxable turnover was held to be inconsistent with the text and scheme of Section 6B(1).

Conclusion: The expression "total turnover" could not be substituted by "taxable turnover" for the purpose of levy under Section 6B(1), and the challenge to the assessments failed.

Final Conclusion: The levy of turnover tax on the basis of total turnover, subject only to the deductions expressly provided in the statute, was upheld and the appeals were dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a taxing provision expressly adopts "total turnover" and specifies the deductions that alone may be made, the court cannot read the charging provision as referring to "taxable turnover" or otherwise expand deductions beyond the statute.

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