IMF chief pitches for an early take-off of the GST

Amid the ongoing protest of the opposition and dashing hopes of passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in the ongoing winter session of the parliament, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde has pitched for an early take-off of the Goods and Services Tax, saying that it will help India create more jobs, increase revenue as well as promote domestic manufacturing.

She termed GST as a trade agreement  and said, a harmonised and unified GST will broaden tax base and added that “The implementation of GST will help India create jobs and help in raising revenue to finance health, education etc”.

Lagarde also assured support and technical assistance for implementation of the comprehensive indirect tax reform, which will subsume excise and sales taxes. Simple to administer will make GST an efficient taxation too, she added.

Meanwhile, assuring the GST rate to be less than 18 per cent, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has hinted at accepting Congress' stand on scrapping one per cent additional tax and that Good and Services Tax rate could be much less than 18 per cent recommended by Arvind Subramanian panel.