Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday proposed a three-rate structure for the Goods and Services Tax -- which will simplify the indirect tax regime -- under which goods will attract 20 per cent levy, services 16 per cent and essential items a concessional 12 per cent.
The Lok Sabha has already passed the Bill.
GST Council extends anti-profiteering authority's tenure, sends rate cut on EVs to fitment panel and also extended the date for filing annual returns under the GST by two months to August 30.
Ahead of the first meeting of the top decision-making body in nearly eight months, finance ministers of eight states ruled by non-Bharatiya Janata Party and like-minded parties -- Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Kerala and West Bengal -- have devised a joint strategy to press for a zero tax rate on Covid essentials, sources said.
According to the draft, in the northeastern states the threshold is at Rs 500,000.
After the GST Council's meeting in March, the Centre had sought views from Attorney General K K Venugopal -- who is the chief legal officer of the government -- on the legality of market borrowing by the council to make good any shortfall in the compensation fund. The AG in his view said there is no obligation on the central government to pay the GST compensation shortfall, according to the sources.
The GST Council on Friday left taxes on COVID-19 vaccines and medical supplies unchanged after the BJP- and Opposition-ruled states sparred over whether tax cut benefits will reach the common man. Congress and other Opposition ruled states have been demanding a reduction in taxes but the central government felt the move may not result in tangible gains for people. "It is one thing to rush to say - do this, it will benefit the common man. But when the technical, fitment and law committees go into the details, you realise that that could have collateral impact on many others," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. "I am not talking about the revenue generation aspect, but how many other items will get included in it as a result of which how you are going to implement it," she added.
The Centre has turned down the proposal of the empowered group of state finance ministers to keep alcohol out of goods and services tax.
Following passage of the Constitution Bill, 2014, Dass and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who introduced it in the House, exchanged sweets.
While the Centre is criticised for not cutting excise duty on petroleum products, it is the states which gain more from the rise in their prices
'Because of the COVID-19 pandemic situation today, the revenues of the states have gone down, the GST money is not coming and all the states combined have lost more than Rs 365,000 crore in revenue.' 'To make it worse, the Government of India is not compensating us for the shortfall, which it must as per its Constitutional obligations.'
Companies are worried that any staggered roll-out of GST could result in cash flow issues with businesses not able claim tax credit due to breakage in the chain
The largest challenge for the gigantic exercise between the Centre and the 29 states was to keep the latter interested over the years.
Continued lack of consensus at next meeting could cast shadow on GST rollout by April 1.
These have to be passed in this session to meet the September 15 deadline for switching over to the new indirect tax regime, Jaitley said.
Finance ministers from Congress-ruled states say they have alerted the Centre about the problems in GST for several months, but it is only now with the Gujarat assembly election around the corner that the Modi regime has started heeding these suggestions.
Businesses with more than Rs 10 lakh turnover may end up paying the central goods and services tax, with the Centre not agreeing to states' suggestion of keeping the threshold at Rs 1.5 crore.
Penning a Facebook post on the second anniversary of GST rollout, Jaitley said as many as 20 states are already showing more than a 14 per cent increase in their revenues and do not require the Centre to compensate them for revenue loss arising out of GST implementation.
Bringing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products under the single nation-wide GST regime will reduce taxes on these products and increase the revenue of both the Centre and states, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will definitely try to bring petrol and diesel under GST if she gets the support of the state governments, said Gadkari while addressing the Times Now Summit virtually. "In the GST Council, finance ministers of states are also members.
The Bills pertaining to the introduction of a new law and amendment to the Constitution will not be tabled in the coming Budget session of Parliament. finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and state finance ministers will meet in April to decide a new date for the GST rollout.
With less than five months left for the report of the Fifteenth Finance Commission to be submitted, its chairman N K Singh said the report will have fiscal road map for states, depending on their current situation.
In a first, Opposition-ruled states on Saturday got the Centre to delete from the records three minutes of the last GST Council meeting that provided for tweaking of agreed criteria for division of taxpayers under the Goods and Service Tax regime.
The empowered committee of state finance ministers has approved the position paper of the Centre on the information technology network for the proposed indirect tax regime.
Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) chairman Bibek Debroy on Tuesday said the government was losing revenue due to the GST, which should be revenue neutral with a single rate. Speaking at an event organised by the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, he however said that GST has led to a lot of simplification. "The ideal GST is one that has a single rate, and it was meant to be revenue neutral.
The Centre on Friday said it will persuade states to reach a consensus on the Goods and Services Tax so that it can be implemented from April 1 next year.
The heavy industries ministersaid that the proposal for the auto scrappage policy was ready and all stakeholders have provided inputs, therefore its announcement was likely very soon.
With 7 per cent economic growth, India is not creating enough jobs as reflected by the number of applicants for vacant posts in some states, Reserve Bank's former governor Raghuram Rajan said and suggested the government needs to focus on promoting labour-intensive industries to generate employment. Rajan further said some Indians, especially those at upper level, are comfortable and have high incomes, but consumption growth from the lower half of the country has still not recovered to pre-pandemic level.
The NCP said that all 3 MVA partners are united in running the coalition government in Maharashtra, but no decision has been taken so far on alliance for the 2024 assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Badal, who served as the finance minister in the previous Congress government, said, "Seven years ago, I merged the People's Party of Punjab with your party. I did so with immense hope and an expectation of being integrated into an organisation with a rich history that would allow me to serve both the people of Punjab and its interests to the best of my ability."
In a move that will significantly reduce paperwork for producers of goods and services, the draft recommendations submitted by the all-states joint working group on goods and services tax (GST) have said one document will have to be filed.
Wants all services included in tax, with a negative list.
The finance ministry has said that the Goods and Services Tax will not apply on room rents of 'sarais' (inns) or properties managed by religious and charitable institutions. The clarification was issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Thursday evening to clear the confusion with regard to the levy of GST on room rents. This clarification by the Finance Ministry came following a demand from various quarters including AAP MP Raghav Chadha that the GST on rooms rented by religious institutions be withdrawn.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will likely consider on Saturday a GST rate cut for Covid-19 relief essentials and drugs for treating the black fungus disease and might leave the vaccines untouched. The meeting is being held following a report submitted by a Group of Ministers (GoM) to the GST Council on Monday. The GoM, set up by the Council on May 28, was mandated to look at tax exemption and concessions on various Covid items including vaccines, drugs, and equipment.
5 commodities namely crude oil, natural gas, petrol, diesel, and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) were kept out of GST's purview given the revenue dependence of state governments on these sectors.
For every rupee in the government coffer, 58 paise will come from direct and indirect taxes, 34 paise from borrowings and other liabilities, six paise from non-tax revenue like disinvestment and two paise from non-debt capital receipts, according to the Budget documents for 2023-24.
A well-functioning GST will enhance tax compliance and boost growth: IMF
Asked about the Congress's opposition to the GST Bill, Santosh Kumar Gangwar said no party opposes GST outside Parliament.
State finance ministers' panel to decide on latest attempt at harmonising of views on Constitution amendment.
The final rate will be worked out by the GST Council, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday.
The Centre would need the concurrence of 20 states out of 29 to impose a GST on petroleum
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