Bhubaneswar: Odisha government on Sunday said that many issues related to the Goods and Services Tax concerning the state were yet to be addressed.
Addressing a meeting on the completion of one year of GST, state finance minister Sashi Bhusan Behera said: "We have not received the kind of tax revenue that we had expected from the GST. Even the issue of GST compensation claimed by the Odisha is yet to be addressed. We had claimed compensation of Rs 2,327 crore for nine months in 2017-18, but we have so far received only Rs 2,245 crore."
The GST has hit tax base in the state's mining sector as well.
"We used to collected huge tax from the mining sector. Now, we receive only 2.5 per cent share from the mining sector," he said.
Behera said: "We were earning nearly Rs 500 crore revenue as tax collected on sale of essential commodities. But in compliance with the recommendations of the GST Council, Odisha agreed not to collect the tax. Now, we are incurring huge loss. We have placed all these issues before the GST Council. But the council is yet to take a call on the issue"
He said: "We are also been consistently demanding waiver of GST on products from sal leaf. The tribal people of Mayurbhanj district depend on it. But our demand has not been addressed yet. The Centre has imposed five per cent GST on it. Even the weavers and films produced in Odia language have been affected badly by the GST."
However, the finance minister admitted that the tax structure has become simplified with the implementation of the GST.
Finance secretary T.K. Pandey said that the filing of returns in GST has improved.
Chief commissioner of GST in Central Excise and Customs Rakesh Kumar said: "Tax has come down in 178 products and 54 services because of the GST."
Odisha government's special finance secretary Ashok Meena and commissioner of Commercial Tax and GST Saswat Mishra attended the event.
However, the BJP took the occasion to come out in defence of the GST.
"Now, there is a one-tax system in the entire country. The price of various commodities has been reduced following implementation of the GST. People are able to buy various things at a cheap rate," said vice-president of state BJP unit Samir Mohanty.
