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| Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi at the seminar in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Deepak Kumar |
Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Sunday said the implementation of goods and service tax (GST) would not be possible unless all states were taken into confidence.
He added that the implementation of GST would be more rapid if the Centre compensated the states for the losses the latter incurred because of the reduction of Central Sales Tax from 4 to 2 per cent.
Modi was addressing a national seminar “GST: Key Issues and Challenges” at a city hotel. The event was organised by the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICAI), Eastern India Regional Council, in association with its Patna chapter.
Modi, the chairman of the empowered committee of the state finance ministers on GST, said: “In order to discuss GST, three things will have to be taken care of. These are constitution amendment bill, GST network and negative list of services.” He added that the GST could have been implemented earlier if it had not required amendment.
The deputy chief minister said: “It 2/3rd majority in both the houses of Parliament for the passage of a bill. At the same time, it requires approval of 50 per cent majority at the state level. In such a situation, the Centre will have to take the states into confidence so that the implementation of the GST could be done. The Centre should clear all dues of the states to win their trust. Then implementation of the GST will be faster.”
Modi said the states were not responsible for the delay and it was pending in Parliament. “For a major reform like GST, it takes time. It took 10 years to implement Even during Value Added Tax. Tamil Nadu was the last state to implement it. Even today, Tamil Nadu is opposing GST. Anything new is opposed in the beginning but is accepted later. It will take at least four to 10 months to implement it if there is no roadblock.”
ICAI president M. Gopalkrishnan, said: “ICAI’s reach in remote areas is through distance learning and regional chapter. There should be support centres at college level.”
