The long-pending Goods and Services Tax Bill will be heard in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The Bharatiya Janata Party government has been desperate to passed the Bill, which seeks to change India’s complicated tax regime into a single levy. The Congress is expected to vote for the legislation even though it continues to disagree with the BJP on some of the Bill’s provisions, including the lack of a cap on the tax rate.
The government has already circulated copies of the Bill among members of the Rajya Sabha, where it does not have majority. The changes to the Bill were handed over to the Secretariat of the House as well as to legislators on Monday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.
The BJP government has secured the support of all the major opposing parties, with Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar giving his assent recently. The Trinamool Congress, Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party also assured the Centre of their support. The Bill’s biggest opponent, the Congress, indicated on Thursday that it was finally budging on the issue. Party leaders met on Monday and arrived at a consensus.
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. The Centre believes this will help create a unified market in the country, avoiding double taxation and increase compliance. The GST will have a Central component, and a state component, which both forms of government will administer at their levels.
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