The Haryana Assembly ratified the Goods and Services Tax Constitution Amendment Bill late on Monday, making it the ninth state in the country to do so. Its support for the uniform tax came just hours after the Maharashtra Assembly unanimously ratified it. The state is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has 47 seats in the 90-member Assembly. The Centre needs at least 15 states to approve the Bill for it to move to the next step in the process, which is implementation of the single national tax regime across the nation.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Goa has a special Assembly session scheduled for August 31 to discuss the proposed law and ratify the GST Bill. The West Bengal Assembly had unlisted it from its special session on Monday and postponed discussions indefinitely. The Bill was cleared by both houses of Parliament on August 3.
The GST Bill seeks to bring in a single tax rate to replace India's complicated current rules, which include Central excise duty, service tax, additional customs duties, value added tax, entertainment tax and so on. It will replace 17 indirect tax levies.
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