“If the need arises, we will call a special sitting of the Bihar Assembly to approve the GST legislation”, said Kumar.
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Sources said better coordination between the government and the party, promotion of “pro-poor and pro-weaker sections” initiatives of the Modi government, increasing usage of digital media to push party and government agenda are among the major issues.
In a research report titled “India-Upper house clears the way for GST” by Standard Chartered said that in the near-term growth impact of GST implementation is likely to be negative as the economy adjusts to the new tax structure.
Leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra said: “The GST bill was first introduced by the UPA government”.
Both the federal and state governments will levy taxes simultaneously which will subsume all other indirect taxes making tax compliance faster and easier.
The Rajya Sabha had on Wednesday unanimously passed the bill with amendments to enable consensus on the measure.
Modi described the bill’s passage as a “truly historic occasion” and thanked members of all parties for their support.
The meeting is important because Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday asserted that the government will stick to the deadline of 1 April 2017 for the roll-out of GST. He had dubbed it as “PM-mukt Parliament”.
The 66-year-old Constitution, which gives power to Centre to levy taxes like excise and empowers states to collect retail sales taxes, was amended though the 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill. According to Sangma, some states had issues with certain relevant sections of the Bill and later engagements helped in sorting out the differences. The Mental Health Care Bill, 2013, after it is passed by Rajya Sabha, may also be taken up by the House.
Now, as the Centre has chose to implement GST from 2017-18, the state is demanding compensation till 2016-17 too, they said.
Indian states will have to pass further laws to determine the rate and scope of the tax.
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The GST regime would streamline the taxation system and make it much more transparent, but would also create multiple taxation points, which will be a “challenge” for the IT industry, Nasscom said today.
