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GST Bill should be introduced as Money Bill, says Congress

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ANI New Delhi

A day after the most awaited Goods and service tax (GST) Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha, Congress leader on Thursday said they are not satisfied with the introduction of GST as the Finance bill rather it should be introduced as Money Bill.

"We want GST to be introduced as the Finance bill not as Money Bill. If it will be introduced as Money Bill Rajya Sabha will not have any authority and it would be automatically considered as passed by the Parliament within 14 days," said Congress leader Rajeev Shukla to ANI.

He added that the matter has been discussed with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitely and he has given his assurance and has promised that the matter it will be discussed before the introduction of the Bill.

 

The GST Bill was approved on Wednesday by the Upper House with 203 votes in favour and none against, after a seven-hour debate during which a rare bonhomie was witnessed among the ruling and the opposition parties.

Six official amendments, including scrapping of one per cent additional tax, moved by the government were approved with cent per cent votes.

The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha earlier. It will now go back to the Lower House to incorporate the amendments approved by the Rajya Sabha. The bill will also have to be approved by 50 per cent of all the state assemblies.

AIADMK was the only party to oppose the measure and its members staged a walkout from the House to register their unhappiness over the bill which lays the ground for rollout of uniform GST regime that will subsume all indirect taxes including central excise duty and state VAT/sales tax.

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First Published: Aug 04 2016 | 2:28 PM IST

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