GST rate cut soon, tax review in final stages, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman
Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is in the final stages of reviewing GST structure and a reduction of the levy would happen soon, union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who chairs the Federal indirect tax body said on Saturday.
Speaking at the Economics Times Awards for Corporate Excellence in Mumbai, Sitharaman said that the ministerial group set up by the GST Council has done excellent work, which is in final stages now and that the minister would take one more look at the proposals and take it to the federal indirect tax body for decision making. This is expected to be taken up at the next meeting of the Council.
“We are very close to coming to a final call on some of the very critical issues—reduction, rationalisation of rates and looking at the number of slabs and so on,” said the minister, adding that the rates at present are lower than what they were when the indirect tax reform was rolled out in 2017.
The GST Council chaired by the union finance minister has designated state ministers as members.
GST rates have come down since the law was implemented in 2017, and the currently ongoing revision is also likely to lower the levy further, the union finance minister said.
"At the time when the GST was launched, the revenue-neutral rate was about 15.8%," said Sitharaman.
