New Delhi: The GST Bill, which will bring the "single biggest tax reform since Independence", will be taken up in the next Parliament session, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday while asserting that concerns of all states have been take care of in the new measure.
"I do not intend to pass it (GST Bill) in the current Parliament session. We will formally take it up in the next session," Jaitley said in the Rajya Sabha, while speaking on the Appropriation (No 4) Bill, 2014.
The Bill, which was returned, authorises payment and appropriation of certain additional sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India for 2014-15. It was passed by Lok Sabha on December 10.
Describing the GST reform as a "win-win situation" for both the Centre and the states, the Finance Minister said the bill would not have "fear of the unknown" unlike Value Added Tax (VAT).
Noting that he has held wide consultations in drafting the bill, including with the Empowered Committee on GST, Jaitley said states would be compensated on account of CST and the first installment would be made before March 31 next year.
Seeking to allay apprehensions of states, Jaitley said their interests are more than adequately protected and does not foresee a situation where states would be the losers.
Jaitley said the government would give "constitutional assurance" in terms of compensating the possible losses incurred by states.
GST reform would strengthen the principle of "co-operative federalism" as Centre and state would need to work together to take decisions which would require 75 percent majority approval.
The Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST) was approved by the Cabinet earlier this week.
On GST, the Centre had held intensive deliberations with states on certain contentious issues, including those related to petroleum product taxation.
"Government is working along with the states as far as GST reform is concerned. GST will be the single biggest tax reform since Independence... It will allow seamless travel of goods and services and tax at the destination," Jaitley said.
Allaying apprehensions that government is foregoing a significant amount of tax, he said such theory is anti-people.
"Myth of taxation foregone is not a benefit for a corporate house but benefits given by government...," he said.
There is a bound tax rate that can be imposed on a product but the applied rate is less, he said.
Hitting out at Left parties, Jaitley said government does not subscribe to the idea of imposing more tax on people to run the state.
Noting that expenditures have to be rationalised, he said a "balancing act" has to be done as far as the government is concerned.
The Finance Minister also responded to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh who said that when UPA government had tried to bring GST, the state of Gujarat had constantly opposed it.
Other than the CM of Gujarat becoming the PM, what other change has taken place that the Finance Minister claims that all states are on board, Ramesh had asked.
Jaitley said states have a greater confidence in the present dispensation as their concerns were being addressed.
He said that he was willing to meet and address concerns of all states on the matter.
Jaitley said that myth was being spread that MGNREGA allocations had been cut down.
He said he had even seen an email which had a fake Parliament question on whether the NDA government is planning to reduce retirement age of government employees to 58.
The Finance Minister also assured the House that the government would pass on to consumers the benefits of a slide in international oil prices and pointed out that oil prices had been reduced eight times in the past.
Jaitley said it was easy to be populist, but the money for welfare schemes also has to come from somewhere.
