Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has claimed that the passage of Goods and Service Tax (GST) bill and four and other bills associated with it is an achievement of political consent.
BJP Madhya Pradesh general secretary Banshilal Gurjar in a statement here on Sunday said, “The way GST and four bills associated with it have been passed in the upper house of the parliament and the way it got support from States and political parties has set a big example of political consent in the country. The biggest thing is that consent was also formed over keeping agriculture and agricultural products out of GST.”
Gurjar further said that petrol, diesel, electricity and alcohol have also been kept out of GSTs ambit for the time being. One phase of GST being passed by the State Assembly has left that would be passed before the monsoon session without any problem and after that with the approval of President the biggest financial reform of the country would take shape in the form of GST, he added.
He said that one of the benefits of the GST would be that its ambit would increase. The health of country’s economy would improve. The GDP of the country would increase by 1.5 to 2 per cent. The consumer would be benefitted the most this is for sure because at present almost all the 17 taxes of centre and states over services and goods are levied and many departments remains involved in it. Due to this the merchants and traders in order to become victim of exploitation gets indulge in tax evasion, he added.
The BJP state general secretary said that GST would be the only indirect tax that would have complete transparency and the trader community would get rid of keeping records and the tendency of tax evasion would be controlled.