Haryana Assembly today unanimously ratified the Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax.
On the second day of the Monsoon session, the Haryana Assembly today unanimously ratified the Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST). The bill was introduced by state Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu and passed after a brief debate.
Participating in the discussion on the resolution regarding ratification of the 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Kiran Chaudhary asked the government to take care of the interests of small and medium business enterprises who may be impacted after the implementation of GST, a new regime of indirect taxes.
She suggested that the threshold limit to levy tax be enhanced from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh in GST.
"GST Bill is a Congress's baby and it is a simplified tax. But it has a lot of clauses," she said.
Ms Chaudhary said the state might face revenue loss of Rs 9,000 crore because of GST and asked the government how it will ensure to neutralize the same.
Congress legislator Karan Dalal said GST is a "destination tax". He asked the government to clarify which authority would resolve any issue arising out of inter-state dispute.
Mr Dalal said there is a 40 per cent tax on tobacco and the party supports it. But the government should also keep in mind that a lot of people smoke 'Hukkas' in Haryana, he said.
In the 90-member Haryana assembly House, BJP has 47 MLAs, INLD has 19, Congress 17 (after HJC merged with Congress), BSP one, SAD one and five are Independents.
The Assemblies of Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam have already ratified the bill.
The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 on GST was passed by Parliament recently and it needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST Council which will decide the new tax rate and other issues.
The government has set April 1, 2017 as target for rolling out GST, considered as the country's biggest tax reform.