The Congress on Saturday said the changes announced by the Goods and Services Tax Council a day earlier did not address problems with the structure of the new tax regime. The Shiv Sena, too, criticised the revisions made to the GST and said the changes were brought in only to draw votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the elections in Gujarat later this year.
On Friday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced a slew of revisions in rules under the GST. Most of them target small and medium enterprises and exporters, who had made representations to the council about problems they faced.
“The GST has failed due to structural irregularities, leaving the economy in misery and Modi and company trying to save face,” the Congress tweeted on Saturday. It said the government was not developing a truly “one-nation-one-tax’ structure as it was not bringing petrol, diesel, electricity and real estate under the GST.
“The government has utterly failed to address structural issues of the GST reform through fair and transparent consultations,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said at a press conference in New Delhi. He said the spirit and purpose of the GST Bill introduced by the United Progressive Alliance was lost “because of the sheer incompetence of a panic-stricken Modi government driven by adhocism and lost in chaos of its own making”, IANS reported.
Surjewala said states were still able to impose taxes above the GST, such as the entertainment tax in Tamil Nadu and registration tax in Maharashtra. “The prime minister and finance minister have failed to address this principal structural flaw,” he said, adding that the changes give no relief to the distressed agriculture sector.
“Fertilisers, which had 1.03% of Central excise earlier, are now being taxed under GST at 5%,” he pointed out. “Tractors and all other agricultural implements have been taxed at 12%...”
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena, BJP’s ally at the Centre and in Maharashtra, criticised the changes. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said they had been announced as the Gujarat elections were nearing.
“The changes announced by the GST Council are not a Diwali gift as several more changes are required,” Thackeray said, referring to Narendra Modi’s comments earlier on Saturday describing the GST Council’s decisions as an early Diwali.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!