Jaitley defends GST in Lok Sabha

Speaking in defence of the tax overhaul brought by the NDA government, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said the Congress-ruled states are also aware of the positive impact of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Addressing the detractors of GST in the Lok Sabha, Jaitley said the suggestion of postponing the introduction of the taxation system was a "charter to anarchy", and added that the government "managed to stabilise its effect in a matter of months."?

"I went to Singapore. There they levy 7 percent GST on both Mercedes and food. Can this be done in India, a country where a large population lives below the poverty line? How can same tax slab be implemented on a luxurious item and a necessity?" he further said.

He also assured that the structural reforms will prove to be beneficial in the long run, "Structural reform may pose momentary difficulty initially but in the long run it will prove to be beneficial."

In his speech, Jaitley also took on the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government over their taxation policy, "When we have come to Centre, you ask us to cap it at 18 percent but when you were (in power), you took 31 percent tax."

"The narratives which we had inherited and the narrative which we have now is entirely different. Nobody at that time mentioned that India is the fastest growing economy. It has only happened now. Data speaks for itself," Jaitley added.

Jaitley also claimed that India will remain the fastest growing major economy in the world.

"We remain committed to fiscal prudence and demonstrated it by bringing down fiscal deficit from 3.9 percent," he added.

Jaitley also addressed the Opposition's allegations of scam in reference to the Rafale deal, and said it is seriously compromising India's security by asking for price of Rafale deal.