Arun Jaitley introduces four Bills on GST in the Parliament

In the Lok Sabha session of March 27, 2017, the government introduced four Bills to roll out the Good and Services Tax in the economy, marking the historic tax reforms, while the opposition objected to the introduction of the Bill, complaining about not being informed about the developments. 

Through the Bill, the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, introduced the Central GST, Integrated GST, Union Territory GST and the Compensation Law in the pursuit to implement the one-nation, one-tax scheme across the country.

To be launched on July 1, the imposition of GST is likely to bring 2 per cent extra growth in the economy. However the implementation of the Bill will require the approval of the Parliament and the state assemblies, further merging the central taxes like excise duty and state taxes like VAT.

The government is in a haste to pass the GST laws within the current session, as the central and the state government will lose their right to collect indirect taxes post September 15, 2017.

While the four-tier tax slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent in addition to the cess on the demerit goods like aerated drinks, luxury cars and tobacco products. However the categorisation of goods and services in the various tax slabs will be done from the next month.