The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill commonly known as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill.
The legislation is aimed at bringing uniform tax regime in the country by subsuming state levies.
Under it, a single rate of GST will replace Central Excise, State VAT, entertainment, entry and luxury taxes to ensure seamless transfer of goods and services.
Earlier, replying to over six hour long debate on the Bill before voting , Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government will try for the most reasonable rate for GST.
He said with GST, system will become more efficient and there will be no tax on tax and evasion will become more difficult.
He also dismissed the apprehension of members that Centre will have veto power in the proposed GST Council saying it would have only one third weightage in it.
Moving the Bill, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed the legislation as one of the most significant tax reforms in the country’s history.
He said, the GST Bill will boost the economy which is now in a critical stage and put in place a uniform market in the country.
Mr Jaitley said the bill will enable a seamless country-wide transfer of goods besides empowering the Centre and the states to increase their revenues.
He said it will also bring down tax evasions and bring all transactions under the ambit of taxation. The Finance Minister said the GST will serve the interest of the federal system in the best possible manner.
Initiating the discussion, P Chidambaram of Congress demanded that the standard rate of GST should not exceed 18 per cent as suggested by the Chief Economic Advisor.
He said his party will campaign across the country to garner support in favour of the standard rate. He said it is efficient, non-inflationary and not result in losses to Centre and the state revenues and also be acceptable to people.
He warned that a rate higher than this will be inflationary, leading to tax evasion. Mr Chidambaram also wanted a dispute resolution authority to take care of any possible disputes.
He said Congress wanted a capping of the GST rate in the bill itself so that it cannot be changed by executive whims.
Mr Chidambaram urged the government to introduce GST and Integrated GST (IGST) bills as Finance bill and not as money bill for a proper discussion in both the Houses.
He said, his party was never opposed to the idea of GST. He said in the earlier bill, there were too many flaws and hence Congress did not support it. Mr. Chidambaram welcomed the government’s decision of dropping the provision of one percent inter- state transaction tax in the bill.
Participating the debate, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury urged the government to protect the right of states. He said the tax rate of 24 per cent will cripple most of the people of the country.
On the issue of dispute redressal, Mr. Yechury said greater thought must be given to it and it must be spelt out more concretely. He said, the bills should be brought back as finance bill and not as a money bill.
Source:Babushahi.com
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