Goa on Wednesday became the 15th State in the country to pass the Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2016 during a specially convened session of the State legislative Assembly.
The GST Bill was passed unanimously following a two-hour discussion by members of the ruling and treasury benches.
“We stand to gain around `1,000 crore per year. With the ease of doing business rising, businesses will expand and our growth rate will grow. Our share in central taxes will grow and we will get 50 per cent of service tax and other central taxes. Goa will largely benefit as cheaper services will bring in more tourists,” Chief Minister laxmikant Parsekar said.
Opposition members however, also cautioned the chief minister over, what they claimed could be an increased dependency on the Central Government for financial assistance, because of a possible revenue cut.
“Our dependency on the Centre will increase. Has the Government taken all these into considerationIJ I strongly recommend and demand a white paper on cost benefit analysis of the GST with regard to Goa,” Independent Opposition MlA Rohan Khaunte said.