New Delhi: As the Goods and Service
Tax (GST) bill clears its way with a thumping majority in the Rajya Sabha, the
Indian Inc. has responded positively on the move where several corporate heads
said the bills passage would ‘ease’ doing business in the country.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on
Wednesday moved that the GST Bill – The Constitution (One Hundred and
Twenty-second Amendment) Bill, 2014 be discussed and passed in Rajya
Sabha. The discussion on the GST bill came after months of discussions
between the ruling party and the opposition – with both sides meeting multiple
times to negotiate amendments.
Jaitley’s handshake with former
Finance Minister P Chidambaram was the most telling of all — a moment of
reconciliation after years of arguing for the same objective from different
sides of the aisle — as the House unanimously passed the 122nd Constitutional
Amendment.
Throughout the day, Chidambaram
played the general while Jairam Ramesh played his trusted lieutenant working
the floor and rallying support from fellow members, Jaitley constantly engaged
with Adhia and Subramanian, and kept reading and making notes.
The day’s proceedings told a story of
MPs cutting — and effortlessly moving — across party lines before agreeing to
pass one of the biggest tax reforms in history.
The GST will replace a confusing
jumble of central and state levies to create a common market across India for
the first time.
At present, anything from film
tickets to a car is subject to a multitude of taxes that vary from state to
state and sometimes double up. This is one of the reasons why doing business in
India is complicated.
The GST proposes to replace existing
levies such as the luxury tax, VAT, excise duty, central sales tax,
entertainment tax and lottery taxes, with a single tax.
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