The President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday gave assent to the constitution amendment bill on GST, setting the stage for bringing next batch of legislations to roll out the indirect tax from the next
The President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday gave assent to the constitution amendment bill on GST, setting the stage for bringing next batch of legislations to roll out the indirect tax from the next financial year.
The Parliament had on August 8 passed the Constitution Amendment Bill which was then circulated to state governments seeking its ratification.
A Constitution amendment bill needs to be ratified by the legislative Assemblies of at least 50 per cent of the states.
The bill was sent to the President’s secretariat after as many as 17 states ratified the bill.
After the President’s nod Centre will now set up of a GST council which will decided on the crucial issues of the GST. The GST Council will decide on the tax rate, cess and surcharges which are to be subsumed and also decide on the goods and services which would be exempted from the purview of the new indirect tax regime.
Meanwhile, CEA Arvind Subramanian on Thursday made a pitch for a lower GST rate, saying it will help improve compliance and dispel inflation fears. “... On balance, I think we should err on side of lower (GST) rate and then, if you discover that you are falling short on revenue, there are other ways of coping with it,” Mr Subramanian said to CNBC TV18.
