GST bill reaches President's doorstep

The resolution for ratification of the bill was moved by chief minister Naveen Patnaik at a special one-day session of the assembly. The bill was unanimously approved.

“The overall tax burden on most commodities is expected to come down. The government will get the benefit of higher revenue efficiency. The business and industry will find it easier to comply with,” Patnaik said in the legislative assembly while speaking on the bill.

“We will separately request the government of India to consider state's concern for imposition of Green Tax on polluting goods in addition to GST,” Patnaik said. “We will also request the Centre to take appropriate action for CST compensation to the states up to 2016-17 for reduction of CST from 4 per cent to 2 per cent,” he added.

The bill aims at replacing all central indirect levies like excise duty, countervailing duty and service tax, as also state taxes such as value added tax, entry tax and luxury tax, by a single tax pan-India. Termed as the biggest tax reform in independent India, the implementation of the GST is expected to increase the country's GDP growth by 1.5 to 2 per cent.

The implementation of the GST, however, could pose a challenge as transactions of producers and end consumers have to be linked. Moreover, taxes have to be matched on the IT systems of Centre, states and companies. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India