Thursday, August 4, 2016

A decade long Journey of GST Bill

Today, Rajya Sabha is discussing amendments to Constitution Bill for Goods and Service Tax i.e. Constitutional (One Hundred and Twenty-Second Amendment) Bill, 2014. Hopefully, GST will be introduced in the country after a long journey of 13 years as it was discussed in the Kelkar Task Force report on indirect taxes in 2003 for the first time.

Since, Government agreed to drop 1% additional tax which was key demand of Congress and recommendation of Select Committee of Rajya Sabha and gave assurance that it will compensate States for any revenue loss incurred due to GST rollout, there is high probability that this amendment bill will be passed and supported by all parties. Today, Ministry of Finance issued “Frequently Asked Questions” on Goods and Service Tax and ICAI issued Background Material on Model GST law. There will be a huge impact of GST on common man. Goods like Small Cars, Two wheeler, Movie Tickets, Electronic Items etc. will be cheaper. But Air Travel, Insurance, Textile, Jewellery, Mobile Calls, Cigarettes will be costlier.