GST council meet will deliberate on simplifying things: Sarma

GUWAHATI: One year after it was rolled out, the GST council is set to rationalize existing laws and procedures and make ease of doing business simpler in its next meeting in New Delhi on July 21, but bringing petroleum products under the new regime is not on the agenda.
Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who heads the five-member group of ministers on reviewing tax rates told TOI on Sunday, “In this one year, GST has been a learning experience for all of us. It has brought about unprecedented transparency and efficiency in the taxation framework of India.”

Sarma said that the next meeting of the GST council this month will deliberate on simplifying things. “We will work out on making ease of doing business more simple. There will also be simplification of laws and procedures.”

He added, “There will also be rationalization of tax rates of more items, but bringing petroleum products under the ambit of GST is not in the agenda.”

Speaking in reference to the state’s experience of GST, Sarma said that under the new regime, the state’s revenue loss has come down by half from 22% in one year, despite the sluggishness in the initial period. Sarma said, “GST has started consolidating now in Assam.”

“With the introduction of e-way bill from May 15, tax evasion has drastically come down. Inter-state and intra-state trade has also received a big boost because of e-way bill. Even the compliance level has greatly increased from May,” Sarma said.

“The first thing under GST that happened in Assam was removal of all check gates and barriers which has greatly pumped up ease of doing business,” he added.

Assam opposition leader Debabrata Saikia said, “Under GST, Assam has been constantly losing revenue. Before GST, the state would generate monthly revenue of around Rs 1000 crore to Rs 1100 crore. This has now come down to Rs 500 to Rs 600 crore.”

Sarma added that centre has been compensating the loss due to implementation of GST. “The compensation from centre is coming regularly and every month at the rate of 14%.”

Former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, however, slammed the centre for pushing the country backwards with GST. “It (GST) has completely damaged India’s economy. We have not moved forward with GST but have been pushed back,” Gogoi said.