Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said over a period of time, this will help in the growth process. It will help the consuming State like Odisha.”
Close on the heels of West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra stating that time was not right for implementation of Goods and Service Tax, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here on Thursday said there was no question of going back on GST.
“I am here to clarify that GST will definitely be implemented. I read some comments about demand for reconsideration of GST. But if somebody goes through the constitutional amendments, he or she will understand there is no scope for such reconsideration,” said Mr. Jaitley.
“The Centre had notified certain provisions in the constitution amendment law for GST with effect from September 16 last. The old tax regime can continue for one year. If not implemented, tax collection will be difficult for States after September 16, 2017. If somebody tries to create roadblock for GST implementation neither any scope nor much time is left for such attempt,” he said.
Stating that the GST implementation had become constitutional compulsion, the Finance Minister said, “after GST implementation whole country would become one big market. The country was united from political point of view, but financially, it was never cohesive. Tax rate differed from one state to another, sometime there was duplication in tax imposition. The GST leaves no scope for that. There would be seamless flow of goods and services.”
Earlier speaking at Make in Odisha conclave, Mr. Jaitley said, “over a period of time, this will help in the growth process. It will help the consuming State like Odisha.”
“Tax evasion would be increasingly extremely difficult because from inception to the end the whole process of would be captured on the IT backbone that is being developed. Coupled with this, our country will move to a far clear and formal economy. The informal sector will be formalised,” he said.
The Hindu, 02 December 2016
