Guwahati, June 30: The All Assam Drug Dealers' Association today said the Northeast will be hit hard after the implementation of GST from tomorrow, with additional tax burden on medicines.

The association said medicine prices would go up with the imposition of tax on all drugs under GST.

"Earlier, various medicines were considered under zero per cent, 6 per cent and 15 per cent of tax. After implementation of GST, zero per cent tax will rise to 5 per cent, 6 per cent tax will rise to 12 per cent and 15 per cent tax category will rise to 18-28 per cent," the president of the All Assam Drug Dealers' Association, Promod Mour, told The Telegraph .

Mour said according to the rule in the pre-GST era, medicines to treat cancer and tuberculosis and contraceptives were considered under the zero per cent tax category. Nearly 90 per cent of medicines were under the 6 per cent tax category, which includes all life-saving medicines such as those for heart disease, dysentery, gastric, thyroid and medicines used in the ICU and for critical surgery. Vitamins, food supplements and nutrients were included under the 15 per cent tax category.

"After implementation of GST, drug retailers who have a monthly turnover less than Rs 10 lakh will not have to pay tax over the sale. Those drug retailers with a monthly turnover of above Rs 20 lakh will need GST registration and have to upload a day-to-day sale statement on the GST website," added Mour.

"No pharmacy can run without a computer after the GST. In Assam, electricity supply and Internet connections are inadequate and will this will be a great burden to retailers in the rural areas," he said.

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the GST would bring about a paradigm shift in the indirect tax system by replacing most of the indirect taxes of the Centre and the states with a single-point single tax.

In a statement made here this evening, Sonowal said with the introduction of GST, the citizens would be relieved of the multiple tax terrorism that had been haunting the people of the country since Independence.

As promised by the Centre, the zero tax on food items would also greatly benefit the people, he added. It would also simplify the taxation system and deliver a fillip to the economy of the nation.