Skip to main content

Will the deadlock on GST finally end?

Jaitley says NDA willing to reach out to Congress but Anand Sharma wants Narendra Modi to first shed his confrontationist stance
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has signalled its willingness to once again reach out to the Congress for a consensus on the passage of a constitutional amendment to roll out the goods and services tax (GST) legislation.
In an interview to Bloomberg on Tuesday, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said that the NDA “was willing to speak to any of their (Congress) leaders, including vice-president Rahul Gandhi to break the impasse”.
But given the heightened tensions between the parties on the issue of “increased intolerance” under the NDA regime, it remains to be seen if the Congress will reciprocate.
On Tuesday, the Congress led by president Sonia Gandhi presented a memorandum to the President claiming that a sinister campaign is being conducted by forces close to the government to create social tensions. Jaitley countered the allegations by saying that there is no intolerance in India and asked the opposition to fight political battles “politically”.
GST is set to miss its implementation date of 1 April 2016 after the government failed to win opposition’s support for the passage of the constitution amendment bill in the monsoon session of Parliament.
The government is now pinning its hopes on the winter session slated to start from the third week of November.
Support of opposition parties, such as the Congress will be crucial for the bill’s passage in Rajya Sabha where the opposition has two-third majority.
However, the Congress has maintained that it will support the bill only if its demands for changes in the present version of the bill are met. The party wants the government to do away with the additional 1% tax that will be levied over and above the GST rate. In addition, it wants a GST rate of about 18% to be included in the bill itself. It also favours reinstating a clause on the dispute resolution authority.
Anticipating that the constitution amendment bill will get passed in the winter session, the government has finalized three draft legislations on central GST, state GST and integrated GST. State finance ministers are set to meet on 20 November to approve these bills.
GST aims to economically unify the country by removing barriers across states and make India common market for goods and services.
Given the transactional nature of the tax, the government is targeting to implement GST at the beginning of any month in 2016.
Parliamentary affairs minister Venkaiah Naidu said the government will start interacting with the opposition on key bills, including the GST bill, after the Bihar polls are over while asking the Congress to be more reasonable and constructive in its approach.
“My suggestion to the Congress is to have tolerance and allow the parliament to function. Be tolerant and respect the mandate of the people,” Naidu said.
“The mood of the nation is for development,”he added expressing confidence on passage of the bill in the winter session.
However, reflecting the Congress’s aggressive stance, its leader Anand Sharma on Wednesday said that parliamentary democracy cannot be reduced to just one bill, and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to first shed his confrontationist mindset.
“They should make a real effort to shed this confrontationist mindset by seeking constructive engagement with the opposition,” he said.
“By berating, ridiculing and intimidating them (the opposition) on a daily basis cannot help in creating that atmosphere. It is their call,” the Congress leader added.
Saurabh Kumar of Mint and PTI contributed to this story.
HT Mint, New Delhi, 5th Nov. 2015

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New income tax slab and rates for new tax regime FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25) announced in Budget 2023

  Basic exemption limit has been hiked to Rs.3 lakh from Rs 2.5 currently under the new income tax regime in Budget 2023. Further, the income tax slabs in the new tax regime has been changed. According to the announcement, 5 income tax slabs will be there in FY 2023-24, from 6 income tax slabs currently. A rebate under Section 87A has been enhanced under the new tax regime; from the current income level of Rs.5 lakh to Rs.7 lakh. Thus, individuals opting for the new income tax regime and having an income up to Rs.7 lakh will not pay any taxes   The income tax slabs under the new income tax regime will now be as follows: Rs 0 to Rs 3 lakh - 0% tax rate Rs 3 lakh to 6 lakh - 5% Rs 6 lakh to 9 lakh - 10% Rs 9 lakh to Rs 12 lakh - 15% Rs 12 lakh to Rs 15 lakh - 20% Above Rs 15 lakh - 30%   The revised Income tax slabs under new tax regime for FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25)   Income tax slabs under new tax regime Income tax rates under new tax regime O to Rs 3 lakh 0 Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh 5% Rs 6

Jaitley plans to cut MSME tax rate to 25%

Income tax for companies with annual turnover up to ?50 crore has been reduced to 25% from 30% in order to make Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) companies more viable and also to encourage firms to migrate to a company format. This move will benefit 96% or 6.67 lakh of the 6.94 lakh companies filing returns of lower taxation and make MSME sector more competitive as compared with large companies. However, bigger firms have shown their disappointment since the proposal for reducing tax rates was to make Indian firms competitive globally and it is the large firms that are competing globally. The Finance Minister foregone revenue estimate of Rs 7,200 crore per annum for this for this measure. Besides, the Finance Minister refrained from removing or reducing Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT), a popular demand from India Inc., but provided a higher period of 15 years for carry forward of future credit claims, instead of the existing 10-year period. “It is not practical to rem

Don't forget to verify your income tax return in August: Here's the process

  An ITR return needs to be verified within 120 days of filing of tax return. Now that you have filed your income tax return, remember to verify it because your return filing process is not complete unless you do so. The CBDT has reduced the time limit of ITR verification to 30 days (from 120 days) from the date of return submission. The new rule is applicable for the returns filed online on or after 1st August 2022. E-verification is the most convenient and instant method for verifying your ITR. However, if you prefer not to e-verify, you have the option to verify it by sending a physical copy of the ITR-V. Taxpayers who filed returns by July 31, 2023 but forget to verify their tax returns, will get the following email from the tax department, as per ClearTax. If your ITR is not verified within 30 days of e-filing, it will be considered invalid, and may be liable to pay a Late Fee. Aadhaar OTP | EVC through bank account | EVC through Demat account | Sending duly signed ITR-V through s