New Delhi: The Bill on GST i.e. the Goods and Service Tax Constitutional Amendment Bill is passed by the House of People (Lok Sabha) with Mr. Arun Jaitley, The Union Mister for Finance, on Wednesday 6th May.
Supporting GST- Goods ad Service Tax, Mr. Arun Jaitley stated to the Members, while speaking in the Lok Sabha, that the said taxes will bring a Uniform tax structure across the Country, however, he also added that the products like, Pentroleum, Alcohol are not covered under the said Bill and the same are kept with the States to deal with.
The Congress Party, Members were however, walked out while the voting for the concerned Bill was going on. As such there was received 2/3rd Majority which was required for passing the said Bill.
It was demanded by the Congress party, earlier, that the said GST Bill was to be referred first to the Select Committee earlier to the same was taken up for passage in the Parliament.
However, it was seen that today there was a whip issued to the Members of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party- BJP for remaining present during the passage of the Goods and Service Tax Constitutional Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha.
For the question as to what the abbreviation ‘GST’ stands for or what is its real meaning? It is quite clear concept which the Government sought to introduce in the present legal frame work, by amending the Constitutional provisions. The said Goods and service tax is proposed to be imposed when there will be purchasing of Goods and hiring services by the Consumer, similar to that in the developed Countries how the consumption is taxed.
There are ample chances where the goods manufacturing States will loose their revenues as the States having huge amount of consumers like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Kerala will receive higher shares of taxes, however, the States like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, etc. will loose to have their strong revenues. For this reason the Bill sought to assure to such States that the Central Government would compensate any tax losses if any they suffered over the upcoming 5 consecutive years. The said compensatory amounts will be recovered by providing a 1 extra per cent point tax on the Goods for the period of 2 years which will be taken for such manufacturing States.
The present Amending Bill sought to insert a new Article in the Constitution of India i.e. Article 246- A which empowers the Parliament and State Legislatures to enact laws in relation to Goods and Service Tax to be imposed. Such power will be exercised by the State Legislatures after being subjected to certain conditions.
by Faim Khalilkhan Pathan.
