10 Points About Goods and Services Tax, Modi Government's Biggest Tax Reform

The government has a simple majority in Rajya Sabha in terms of the support from political parties, but it won't be easy to push it through in the monsoon session of Parliament beginning on Tuesday.

The Congress will oppose it in the Rajya Sabha unless the government agrees to its demands and without its support, the government won't manage a two-third majority, required to pass a constitutional amendment bill.

AIADMK is another party that says it is "totally opposed" to the implementation of the GST bill.

The Congress argues that GST rates should be reasonable and moderate to protect consumers from "unfair burden" and that's why the GST council should have a ceiling of 18 per cent.

The Congress has suggested doing away with the one per cent cess by producing states and instead has asked for full compensation for five years for any revenue loss to states.

The aim of GST is to create a uniform market and the Congress argues that cannot be achieved by keeping tobacco, alcohol and electricity charges "out of the purview of the GST indefinitely." The Congress has proposed that the GST council take a decision to bring these items under the purview of GST within five years.

The share of states in voting in the GST council should be 75 per cent and the Centre should be 25 per cent in the interest of cooperative federalism, says the Congress.

There should be an independent dispute redressal mechanism, the Congress has demanded.

The Congress also wants special interest to be shown towards states and union territories whose population doesn't exceed 20 lakh.

And finally, sources of revenue for panchayats and municipalities must be protected and these bodies too should get a share from expected buoyancy in tax collections, the Congress says.