GST navigates to victory

Finally, the most debated bill has finally cleared the circle in the Rajya Sabha. At last the Goods and Service Tax has finally cleared all hurdles. The legislation was approved by the Upper House with 203 votes in favour and none against, after a seven-hour debate. On the other hand, a lot is to be done to get implemented by Apr 2017. After Rajya Sabha, the bill will again go to the Lok Sabha and from there to different states out of which atleast 15 states should give the consensus and in the end the President will sign and make it an Act.

Government has finally reached a consensus with all the major parties to pass the bill. The major opposition Congress too has backed the bill, with lot of straight forward advise to the centre. Congress demands on the GST bill a cap to be included on the GST rate at 18 per cent, deletion of the provision, which allows imposition of 1 per cent tax by additional levy, and an independent dispute resolution mechanism.

The bill will lower the burden of indirect tax on the goods, which accounts to nearly 25 to 30 per cent. To get all indirect taxes levied by the centre and the state under one roof will make the Indian Tax system strong as it will avoid cascading and double taxation issue and give the Indian companies an upper hand and make them competitive in the International markets.