“The GST rollout target date is April 1, 2017”, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Hadia said at a press conference in New Delhi.
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The Congress, which gave rare support to the government in the Rajya Sabha to pass the constitutional amendment that enables the bill, wants the rate of GST to be fixed at no higher than 18%.
Asked if Tamil Nadu will come on board for GST implementation as AIADMK members walked out of Rajya Sabha before voting on the last night, Jaitley said India has political parties which are extremely responsible. According to Sangma, some states had issues with certain relevant sections of the Bill and later engagements helped in sorting out the differences.
While the GST may increase inflation in the short term because the price of some goods will rise, economists say it will boost business activity and deter tax evasion.
Multiple indirect taxes at the Central and State levels are being replaced by GST.
Moody’s said the new GST structure follows a dual taxation model with powers granted to the central and state governments to tax both goods and services under a common structure.
The passage of GST Bill has been widely expected to be a harbinger of change for the real estate sector which is now plagued with a myriad of indirect tax issues both at the centre and state level.
The Lower House had passed it in May previous year, but will have to approve the latest version of the Bill.
The GST Bill can turn the country into the biggest single market of the world. Indications are that the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, which is charting the GST roadmap, will be converted into the GST Council. I must say in all fairness that the Tamil Nadu government has represented in nearly every meeting of the empowered committee.
It is also expected to result in greater tax compliance, boosting government revenues.
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The GST, which was first proposed a decade back, is seen as potentially transformative for India’s economy, adding as much as 2 percentage points to the GDP while also improving the ease of doing business and encourage investment in manufacturing.
