The Bihar legislature on Tuesday unanimously passed the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 and ratified the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill already passed by the two Houses of the Parliament. The only voice of dissent was from CPI(Ml) MlA Mahboob Alam who opposed the Bill and staged a walkout.
Tabled by Commercial Taxes Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav in the Assembly and legislative Council, the proposal supporting the GST was hailed both by the ruling alliance as well as the BJP. They said the GST would be beneficial for Bihar as it would prove biggest tax reform.
Bihar is the first non NDA ruled State which passed the Bill. Earlier Assam Assembly also passed it.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley congratulated the CM for the ratification of the GST Bill by the Bihar legislature. After the Assembly passed the resolution, Jaitley phoned Nitish to thank him. A special one day session had been convened to ratify the Bill which will be rolled out from April 2017.
Replying to the short debate, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said he had been in support of GST even when in alliance with BJP at a time when many BJP ruled States were opposing it. “Bihar has a major role in the drafting of the GST Bill,” he said while mentioning that his former Finance Minister Sushil Kumar Modi was chairman of the high powered committee of the States Finance Ministers.
The CM said after the GST becomes an Act, the States would be empowered to impose tax on Central services like telecommunication, railways and banks on which so far only the Centre had copyright on imposing service tax.
However, the CM also stressed on certain reservations of the State on the GST Bill saying the issues would be settled at the GST Council to be chaired by Union Finance Minister on each dispute the consensus of at least 15 States would be required before its implementation.
“There will be a greater need for the tax administration in the States for clear demarcation of the taxation by the Centre as well as the States,” Nitish said and gave the instance of the small and medium traders saying that the Centre should not impose tax on them. About the tax capping, the CM said there should be a higher limit of the taxation.
leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Prem Kumar praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for succeeding in ensuring consensus on this all important tax reform Bill, a claim disputed by the Congress who claimed that it was the UPA Government which conceptualised this tax administration and alleged that Modi was among the many BJP leaders who had opposed the Bill.
Mahboob Alam of CPI(Ml) said that this Bill has been brought at the instigation of the IMF and World Bank and alleged that it would open the doors for tax terrorism. Two other members of the ultra left parties were not present at the session.