Changes in GST must be more comprehensive than mere rate reduction: Congress
With Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asserting that the GST rates will come down further, the Congress on Sunday said any changes in the tax must be more comprehensive than a mere rate reduction and stressed the need for a radically simplified and less punitive GST 2.0. Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said his party had envisaged a GST 2.0 -- a truly "Good and Simple Tax"-- in its manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and it remains committed to that vision.
"The ball is now in the Union government's court- will they take this historic opportunity?" Ramesh asked in a statement. "The finance minister has declared that GST rates will be reduced soon. The Indian National Congress reiterates that any changes in GST must be more comprehensive than a mere rate reduction," he said.
Reducing the tax on caramel popcorn, without fundamentally reforming a system that has three rates of tax for popcorn, is just window-dressing, the former Union minister added. The need of the hour is a radically simplified and less punitive GST 2.0, he said.
"The first objective of GST 2.0 must be to simplify the tax slabs. The three-slab tax system for popcorn and the differential tax rates for cream buns and regular buns are only the tip of the iceberg," he said.
As the Narendra Modi government's former chief economic advisor, Arvind Subramanian, has acknowledged, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has up to 100 different rates, including cesses, the Congress leader pointed out.
