The Centre on Monday notified a reduction in Goods and Services Tax rates on 23 items from Tuesday, PTI reported. As a result, movie tickets, televisions and monitor screens will be cheaper.
The GST Council meeting on December 22 announced a reduction in tax on these 23 goods and services, moving six items from the 28% tax bracket to 18%, and 16 items from the 18% tax bracket to the 12% and 5% brackets.
The tax on movie tickets priced up to Rs 100 has been reduced from 18% to 12%. Movie tickets priced more than Rs 100 will be taxed at 18% instead of the previous rate of 28%. Similarly, monitors and television screens up to 32 inches and power banks will be taxed at 18% and not 28%.
The council had restricted items of luxury and demerit, cement, large screen television sets, air conditioners, and dishwashers to the highest slab. The items that have been moved from the 28% slab to 18% slab include pulleys, transmission shafts and cranks, gear boxes, retreaded or used tyres, power banks of lithium ion batteries, digital cameras, video camera recorders, and video game consoles.
The council had also reduced the tax on parts and accessories for carriages for disabled persons, moving it from the 28% tax bracket to the lowest tier.
Music books, and frozen and preserved vegetables, which are unsuitable for immediate consumption, have been exempted from GST. Services supplied by banks to basic savings bank deposit account holders under the Jan Dhan Yojana have also been exempted from the tax.
The GST system has five tax slabs – 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% – and has often faced criticism. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government was trying to simplify the GST system so that more than 99% items come under a tax slab of 18% or lower.
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