With reference to "Centre may take money bill route for next GST laws" (August 5), one tends to agree that the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are confident of a smooth legislative journey for the goods and services tax (GST) in the next few months, both in state Assemblies and Parliament. But it would be naïve on their part to "hard sell" the just achieved half victory in the Rajya Sabha by counting the chickens before eggs are hatched.
One wonders why Finance Minister Arun Jaitley did not mince words about what lies at the core of his heart after his predecessor P Chidambaram batted for imposing a cap of 18 per cent on GST in Rajya Sabha by stressing strong "possibilities" of higher inflation stepping in soon after its implementation? Even the "reported" remarks of Thomas Issac, Kerala's finance minister, can't be taken by Jaitley as an alibi for making out a case for putting the proposed standard GST rate at around 20 per cent at this early stage. He must not forget that it's too early to rake up such mindless controversies.
Our past experiences witnessing the frequent upward "revision" in the rates of value added tax and service tax bears testimony to the fact one has been made to pay these taxes under his nose. No one should genuinely expect any "pro-people" GST regime from the BJP-led government's most ambitious tax reform. It may be added that Jaitley enjoys the dubious distinction of being a "tax-savvy" finance minister who never forgets to present himself as a "dove" and also the most competent in his job in independent India who will take our GDP beyond 10 per cent before 2019. In all fairness, the government should think about the common man before it finally makes up its mind about the "would be" standard rate of GST which will replace the plethora of multiple taxes levied across the country.
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One wonders why Finance Minister Arun Jaitley did not mince words about what lies at the core of his heart after his predecessor P Chidambaram batted for imposing a cap of 18 per cent on GST in Rajya Sabha by stressing strong "possibilities" of higher inflation stepping in soon after its implementation? Even the "reported" remarks of Thomas Issac, Kerala's finance minister, can't be taken by Jaitley as an alibi for making out a case for putting the proposed standard GST rate at around 20 per cent at this early stage. He must not forget that it's too early to rake up such mindless controversies.
Our past experiences witnessing the frequent upward "revision" in the rates of value added tax and service tax bears testimony to the fact one has been made to pay these taxes under his nose. No one should genuinely expect any "pro-people" GST regime from the BJP-led government's most ambitious tax reform. It may be added that Jaitley enjoys the dubious distinction of being a "tax-savvy" finance minister who never forgets to present himself as a "dove" and also the most competent in his job in independent India who will take our GDP beyond 10 per cent before 2019. In all fairness, the government should think about the common man before it finally makes up its mind about the "would be" standard rate of GST which will replace the plethora of multiple taxes levied across the country.
Kumar Gupt Panchkula
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201
E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number