The government was working on the rationalisation of the duty structure and doing away with tax exemptions, Parthasarathi Shome, adviser to the finance minister, said on Wednesday.

Shome said on the sidelines of the Economic Editors' Conference that the government was taking a relook at exemptions available to direct and indirect tax payers.

Asked about a reduction in Customs duty, Shome said there was a possibility of reducing the peak Customs duty.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently spoken about bringing duty rates at par with those in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region.

Shome also said Finance Minister P Chidambaram would meet state government representatives November 30 to discuss taxation of services.

"The finance minister's approach is to get states into the exercise and discuss all taxation measures," revenue secretary KM Chandrasekhar added.

Chidambaram had earlier told the conference that the states had agreed to implement the value-added tax from April next year and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had asked him to only speak to the trading community.

Chandrasekhar also said the government was working towards strengthening the tax administration by linking the various wings of the revenue department to get a better idea about tax payers.