Telangana ratifies GST Bill

​Hyderabad: The Telangana Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council on Tuesday unanimously ratified the resolution giving their nod to the proposed Amendment to the Constitution to bring in the GST (Goods and Services Tax) Bill. Telangana has become the tenth State to ratify the Bill.

Moving the resolution in the Assembly, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao said that there would not be any financial loss to the State as the Bill deals only with the Commercial Taxes component of VAT and the State will continue to enjoy the taxes on petroleum products and Excise.

Besides, the states would be benefited by an additional revenue stream in the form of the proposed share from the Service Tax. The Service Tax is growing at 35 per cent in the State, and we would benefit from this, the Chief Minister said.

Though the Bill has been okayed by the both Houses of Parliament, it needs ratification by at least half of the States in order to effect an amendment to the Constitution. Congress leader Chinna Reddy said his party welcomed the Bill that would bring in a uniform tax structure across the country.

BJP floor leader G Kishan Reddy said that this was a milestone in the history of Indian economy. He said that GST was great step towards transformation and transparency. The GST would ensure that there was a single market and this would be the biggest reform after Independence. TDP member Sandra Venkata Veeraiah also supported the resolution.

Somarapu Satyanarayana of TRS said that earlier there were slab rates exempting small traders but there is no such thing mentioned in the new GST. Supporting the bill, MIM member Moazam Khan wanted to know the tax burden on common man.

CPM member Sunnam Rajaiah raised apprehensions that the Centre may not keep its promise. He felt that the Bill might hurt the interests of the State. "The government must ensure that we won't face any financial losses due to the implementation of GST,” he said.

Replying to Rajaiah, KCR said that when Central sales tax was reduced from 4 per cent to 2 per cent during the UPA government, the state had suffered a loss of Rs 10,440 crore. Despite promising to reimburse it, the UPA government did not release the funds. “When I raised the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he agreed to release funds and till now the state has received Rs 1,700 crore.”

He said the good thing about the GST is that the compensation to the state would be mentioned in the bill, he added.
The GST Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha earlier this month.

At least 16 states are required to ratify the Constitution amendment bill on GST. It will be then sent to the GST Council which will decide on the new tax rate as well as Centre and state taxes that will be subsumed in the new tax regime.