NEW DELHI: Bihar deputy CM Sushil Modi lashed out at the Congress for ‘playing politics’ on GST, saying that the UPA was the reason for the trust deficit states had with the Centre while implementing economic reforms because the party had never paid to the demands of the states seeking compensation for phasing out central sales tax (CST).
The Bihar deputy CM’s remarks come at a time when the GST implementation — which started on July 1— is facing criticism by the opposition. Congress VP Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that GST was a “torpedo” which destroyed the economy.
“Under the UPA, the states were only seeking fair compensation for central sales tax phase-out in 2012 but Chidambaram didn’t give a single penny to them. The losses went over Rs 2,000 crore but he did nothing to resolve the issue. He kept silent and didn’t even let the empowered committee function properly,” Modi said. The UPA government had decided that CST would be phased out beginning April 2007 over a period of three years. The CST rate was accordingly reduced from 4% to 3% with effect from April 1, 2007. Guidelines for compensation were framed in 2007 and revised in 2008.
As chairman of the Empowered Committee of States, Sushil Modi had written to PM Manmohan Singh warning him the decision of the government regarding CST compensation will affect the process of tax reforms.
Former FM P Chidambaram had recently flayed the government for the hasty implementation of the GST which he said was a good idea that should have been implemented with due care and attention.
Sushil Modi said FM Arun Jaitley on the other hand had spoken to every CM personally for GST. “The congress was only concerned about the States it was ruling. The losses made by manufacturing States such as Tamil Nadu, Gujarat went unaddressed.” He said the Narendra Modi government on the other hand was trying its best to resolve issues with respect to GST by “tackling the issue heads on, identifying all the places that the shoe pinches, and making necessary amendments.”
The Bihar deputy CM’s remarks come at a time when the GST implementation — which started on July 1— is facing criticism by the opposition. Congress VP Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that GST was a “torpedo” which destroyed the economy.
“Under the UPA, the states were only seeking fair compensation for central sales tax phase-out in 2012 but Chidambaram didn’t give a single penny to them. The losses went over Rs 2,000 crore but he did nothing to resolve the issue. He kept silent and didn’t even let the empowered committee function properly,” Modi said. The UPA government had decided that CST would be phased out beginning April 2007 over a period of three years. The CST rate was accordingly reduced from 4% to 3% with effect from April 1, 2007. Guidelines for compensation were framed in 2007 and revised in 2008.
As chairman of the Empowered Committee of States, Sushil Modi had written to PM Manmohan Singh warning him the decision of the government regarding CST compensation will affect the process of tax reforms.
Former FM P Chidambaram had recently flayed the government for the hasty implementation of the GST which he said was a good idea that should have been implemented with due care and attention.
Sushil Modi said FM Arun Jaitley on the other hand had spoken to every CM personally for GST. “The congress was only concerned about the States it was ruling. The losses made by manufacturing States such as Tamil Nadu, Gujarat went unaddressed.” He said the Narendra Modi government on the other hand was trying its best to resolve issues with respect to GST by “tackling the issue heads on, identifying all the places that the shoe pinches, and making necessary amendments.”
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