Speaking to the members of a parliamentary consultative committee made to suggest reforms on GST, the Finance Minster Arun Jaitley said that GST, when it comes into effect from 1 April 2016 will bring benefits to all states from day one. He said that GST will replace all existing multiple taxes that are levied on goods at central and state levels to create variable prices in different parts of the country. With GST in place, all goods will have a uniform price all over the country to benefit the consumers also.
The GST Bill be discussed in the next session of the parliament
To facilitate introduction of Goods and Services Tax, Union Government introduced the GST bill in Lok Sabha on 19 December 2014. As the winter session is close to an end, GST bill will come up for discussion in the parliament only in the next session now. The Finance Minister is of the view that this tax will help in removing the practice of tax on tax that has been followed in the country for a long time. Thus it will be beneficial to not only the end consumers but also to all the states concerned and the centre. Even the manufacturers and all related industries will derive benefit from GST. This unified tax will encourage more transparency and compliance than the present set of taxes that motivate people to take measures to evade them. GST will thus lead to a higher GDP and it will also enable the government to collect higher revenues.
Jaitley sought to allay the fears of the states
The Finance Minister added that states will benefit from a rise in their revenues as businesses grow and expand. Despite all the benefits from GST, the government is all ears to suggestions from all political parties and states concerned to make sure that GST Bill is transparent and takes into account the views of all stakeholders. He said,“GST is a continuing process which would further evolve and improve with time.’’ He is aware of the apprehension in the minds of state governments that they will lose out on their revenues that they are collecting n the name of many kids of taxes at present.To allay these fears, the Finance Minister said that the proposed GST Bill contains many provisions that make sure that any loss of revenue of the states will get compensated by the centre for a period of next 5 years. He added that the present government at centre favours cooperative federalism and this is the reason it is trying its best to evolve consensus on the issue of GST.
Arun Jaitley said that all members of the consultative committee have a feeling that introduction of GST will lead to a reduction in the number of departments. This will obviously help in reducing corruption at all levels.
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About Sanjay Tandon
Sanjay Tandon is a graduate engineer from IIT Varanasi. He has been writing as a freelancer for many years. He loves to write on various niches. He is passionate about politics and economy and spends his free time watching news channels. He is also an expert on relationships.
