GST is a single tax created to replace the convoluted system of different taxes across states in India, effectively transforming the country into a common market.
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Adhia added that within the next 30 days, we expect 50 per cent of the states – about 16 – to approve the Constitution Amendment Bill. The Bill will now go to Lok Sabha next week.
Asked about the Congress’ stand in the Lok Sabha, senior party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia told BusinessLine: “The GST concept was introduced by the Congress, but the NDA government frittered away the advantages of GST”.
The Narendra Modi government has made a decision to bring the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in the Lok Sabha on 8 August. Members of AIADMK, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu state, abstained from voting and staged a walkout in protest at the bill.
“Replacing certain clauses which were approved in the Lok Sabha unilaterally is not proper”, he said. The GST constitutional amendment bill was finally passed by the upper house of parliament on Wednesday evening.
GST will create one single unified market by subsuming most of the indirect taxes, now levied by both Centre and State, which resulted in a fragmented Indian economy.
“The industries and the people will get benefit out of the introduction of GST”, he said and requested finance minister Arun Jaitley to address any issues that may arise in exports after implementation of the GST system. The way GST Bill received hundred percent votes in Rajya Sabha is also the reflection of the approval by the political parties towards affecting changes in the decades old present system of taxation.
In a bid to pass the GST legislation, the BJP had agreed to a key Congress demand to compensate states for five years for any loss of revenue and drop a 1 per cent additional levy on movement of goods between states.
Both the federal and state governments will levy taxes simultaneously which will subsume all other indirect taxes making tax compliance faster and easier.
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Most revenues came from excise duty and value-added tax whose standard rates, taken together, add up to a tax burden of 27 percent for businesses selling goods.
