Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor Surajit Mazumdar said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was more beneficial to the corporate entities than the common people, on whom it entailed a significant burden.
Addressing a seminar on GST at M.B. Vignana Kendram (MBVK) on the occasion of the 88th birth anniversary of Chukkapalli Pitchaiah on Sunday, Mr. Mazumdar said the consumers were bearing the brunt of the GST, which the Government claimed as not having the kind of cascading effect which was the hallmark of the VAT regime.
“The Central government introduced the GST without doing proper homework due to pressure from the multi-national companies”, he alleged.
Mr. Mazumdar claimed that GST was not successful in developed countries like the USA, and argued that both the GST and demonetization have troubled the common people and small businessmen a lot. He stated that 2/3rd of the taxes in India were indirect taxes which burdened the consumers.
If the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is to grow at the desired pace, the Government should crack down on corporate tax evasion and reduce the tax burden on the people, Mr. Mazumdar added.
C.T. Chowdary, former chairman of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, said about 80 notifications were issued to the traders in just about a month of the GST coming into existence. It suggested that the new unified tax regime has many inconsistencies. The transition from the previous system (VAT) to GST is going to take a long time, he observed.
MBVK Trust Chairman and CPI (M) State Secretary P. Madhu presided.
(EOM)