Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday introduced four Goods and Services Tax Bills in the Lok Sabha. The government has set the maximum GST rate at 40% and put in provisions for an anti-profiteering authority and arrests for evading taxes, reported PTI. However the Opposition parties protested and said they were not informed that the Bills would be tabled on Monday, reported NDTV.
The Bills tabled on Monday included Central Goods and Service Tax or CGST Bill, Union Territory GST Bill, Integrated GST Bill and the Compensation Law Bill. After it is passed in the lower House, the Bills will have to be passed by the Rajya Sabha before the new tax regime can be implemented.
On Sunday, Jaitley had stressed the need to pass these Bills, saying the Centre and states will lose their right to collect indirect taxes after September 15 if the GST laws were not passed during the ongoing Parliament session. The minister has always maintained that the Narendra Modi government is optimistic about rolling out the new tax regime by its revised July 1 deadline.
President Pranab Mukherjee approved the Bills on September 8, 2016, after it was ratified by 16 states. The GST, which seeks to replace 17 different taxes with a single levy, was passed by the Rajya Sabha on August 3.
The Union Cabinet had approved the Bills on March 20. The new tax system have a four-tier tax structure of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%, with the peak rate at 40%. The GST seeks to overhaul India’s complicated taxing system.
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