Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said the government will go ahead with GST Constitutional Amendment Bill in the ongoing session of Parliament.
After meeting his state counterparts, Jaitley said that his government is optimistic about implementation of GST from April 1, 2016.
The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December.
The Centre is working towards addressing concerns of all states for rolling out the GST on the scheduled date.
Certain states have argued that the implementation of GST would be beneficial for consuming states, while for their manufacturing counterparts like Maharashtra and Gujarat it could be a challenge.
The Centre and the states are also working on a new Revenue Neutral Rate, which is currently pegged at 27 percent. RNR is the one at which there will be no revenue loss to the states after GST implementation.
The recalculation of RNR is necessary as at present it does not take into account the taxation of petroleum products as also the 1 percent additional tax which states can levy as part of the GST Bill.Newly-selected chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Minister KM Mani had earlier this month said that a consensus would be built among states for rolling out of GST by April 2016 as there is no "obstinate opposition" from any state.
Jaitley had last week said that the implementation of the landmark GST regime would increase India's GDP by 1-2 percent.
A single rate GST will replace central excise, state VAT, entertainment tax, octroi, entry tax, luxury tax and purchase tax on goods and services to ensure seamless transfer and end of "inspector raj" as well as "tax on tax," he had said.
With Agency Inputs
