"Unlike in other countries, the transition to the
new tax regime would be smooth here because there are multiple points of
taxation in the country. Hence, the possibility of sudden spurt in
inflation is remote," said Adhia, who is spearheading the implementation
of the Goods and Services Tax.
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia is hopeful of a smooth transition to
the GST regime and says it will help domestic firms to become more
competitive apart from streamlining the taxation for all business
activities.
"Unlike in other countries, the transition to the new
tax regime would be smooth here because there are multiple points of
taxation in the country. Hence, the possibility of sudden spurt in
inflation is remote," said Adhia, who is spearheading the implementation
of the Goods and Services Tax.
He was speaking at a conference on
GST organised by the Federation of Gujarat Industries and the chief
commissioner, Central Excise, Customs & Service Tax, Vadodara zone,
here last evening.
Explaining GST’s importance for giving a boost
to the manufacturing sector, he said, "Cascading taxes along with
non-availability of input credit meant that domestically produced goods
found it harder to compete with imported ones.
"GST is a multi-point tax on value addition with seamless input tax credit," he said.
Adhia’s
comments come amid calls from some experts and a section of the
industry for deferring the GST roll-out to September-October instead
from July 1.
"There will be a level playing field for all and this will benefit the domestic units," Adhia said.
Eight state Assemblies have passed the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Bill since the beginning of April.
The
GST Council, the top decision-making body headed by Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley, approved the model SGST Bill at its 12th meeting on March
16. The next GST Council meeting will be held in Srinagar on May 18-19
to fix the tax rates of various commodities.
08 May 2017, 12:17 PM