The Council will have to work out an acceptable threshold limit for levying the GST.
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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.
Jaitley said the government is working to roll out the GST as “reasonably quick” as possible.
“However, as some of the key steps are slated from now onwards till March 2017, the implementation date of 1st April 2017 appears hard to achieve”, he said.
He also said the Draft GST Model Law has few concerns for the export sector which has already been flagged for their remedial action. “In the coming days, we will try that sooner we complete the roadmap and implement it”, he said.
The Finance Minister said once GST is rolled out, doing business in India would be easier and it would help a large body of traders, business people and also the citizens. “What the States are saying now, I think, is not the last word”, he said.
While the opposition is demanding for capping the interest rate at 18 per cent.
An “unreasonable” cap would increase the revenue deficit and a Finance Minister can not afford to do that, he said.
Fixing the GST rate, deciding on exempt items and ensuring no dual control by the Centre and states are among the seven key challenges which have to be overcome before GST can be rolled out by April 1, 2017, a top Finance Ministry official said today.
Wipro CEO Abidali Z Neemuchwala with confidence, said that implementation of GST would go a long way in strengthening the economy “as one common market for taxation”.
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“Over time, this should be positive for growth”.
