NEW DELHI: With the President Pranab Mukherjee granting assent to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, the path is cleared for the government to constitute the GST council. Moreover, there are reports that the government will also create a secretariat for the work on the GST law at its cabinet meeting on Monday.
The NDA-led government is very keen to roll out the GST bill, which is touted to be the biggest tax reform since independence. The new tax reform will be implemented from April 1, 2017.
GST Council to be formed
The government has already notified the Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016 with effect from September 12. The law enables the government to create the GST council, which will decide the various tax rates. The GST Council is a body of center and states that will discuss and implement the details of the single tax.
Commenting on the development, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley disclosed that the deadline is very tight, but the government is doing the best to implement the IT system before the date.
GST prevents cascading of taxes
The main attraction of the GST is that it will replace indirect taxes levied by the center and the states with one single tax. The GST bill creates a national market and prevents cascading of taxes.
Dr. Subramanian Swamy against private players in GST
In an interview to Thanthi TV, Dr. Subramanian Swamy disclosed that the government should not have outsourced the software and IT work to Infosys for a massive Rs. 3000 crores.
Instead, the government should have developed all the required IT systems in-house. Moreover, the outsourcing of work exposes vital data to third party sources, which is harmful to the security of our country.
Last week, ET reported that the government has already started the work on the development of a secretariat to support the GST Council.
