Expressing his confidence on the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the upcoming monsoon session, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the all United Progressive Alliance (UPA) constituents along with other regional parties like DMK and NCP, are in support of the tax legislation and are urging for its implementation.
Stating that it will be very difficult for Congress to take a opposing view, Jaitley said that Parliamentary vote is the only way forward if there was no agreement and added that the Congress should have had the vision to support it more aggressively because they could claim the original authorship of the idea.' He added that except the 1 percent additional tax proposed on inter-state sales, the bill is the same as had been introduced by the UPA and therefore one has to analyze these afterthoughts.
The Minister said the number count of all those that are supporting the GST shows mixed voices, expect AIADMK, every other regional party has strong interest in passing the legislation because it helps their States. He has spoken to all the chief ministers and even Congress-ruled states are supporting the GST, which seeks to simplify indirect taxation system by clubbing different taxes.
The GST Bill, which has been approved by the Lok Sabha, is pending in the Rajya Sabha because of firm resistance by the Congress, the largest party in the House. The Congress is opposing the Bill in the current form, demanding that a cap on GST rate be included in the Constitution Amendment Bill. The other two changes sought are removal of one per cent additional tax on inter-State transfer of goods and a Supreme Court judge-headed dispute resolution panel.