Revised GST bill is accepted by majority of Indian States

Delhi, 14 June, PTI – A new proposal of Goods and Service Tax (GST bill) has been put forward which is considered to bring unprecedented changes in the indirect taxation of the country. Except Tamil Nadu which has some reservations on GST provisions, majority of the states have approved the new proposal of GST, which is considered to be catalyst for Indian economy growth.

It is expected that in the Parliament’s coming monsoon session, the pending GST parliamentary bill might get approved. Central Finance Minister discussed GST proposal with committee of State Finance Ministers with this background. After the discussions, Central Finance Minister announced that the newly introduced GST bill has been accepted by the majority of States.

The way is opened now for the implementation of GST all over the country with this announcement. Ealier the pending ‘Goods and Service Tax (GST) proposal got approved in the Lok Sabha but is yet to be approved in the Rajya Sabha. Government will try to implement nationwide single tax regime by rolling out GST. Many of the taxation schemes of Central and State governments will get scrapped due to the GST. There is a cause of fear in some States that the tax collection might get affected due to this. With the cancellation of all taxes GST Bill should be approved specifying the maximum limit of taxation, is the rising demand.

After many rounds of discussions from 1^st April 2016 government announced to implement the GST. But due to pending approval of Rajya Sabha, implementation on GST is not yet done. Meanwhile there are some upgradations taking place in the GST bill and now almost every State has given its approval. Hence in the forthcoming Parliament Session there are chances of Rajya Sabha approving the GST bill.

Finance Minister Jaitley had discussions with the Finance Ministers of 22 states on the pending GST. For these discussions West Bengal’s Finance Minister Amit Mitra along with Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya’s Chief Ministers and Delhi’s Deputy Chief Ministers along with other seven ministers were present. Everyone put forward their opinion about GST. Every State supported GST and now constitution reformation needs to be done after which the States will sign this bill. Then in the Parliament Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) and State Goods and Service Tax (SGST) bill will be approved, said Jaitley.

Tamilnadu’s Chief Minister Jaylalita had a meeting with Prime Minister on Tuesday during which many issues were discussed. Objections by Tamilnadu government on GST proposal were also a part of these discussions. It was also suggested by the various parties that total tax under the GST will not be more than 18 %.