Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on Tuesday sought to dismiss
speculation that the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST)
regime will be delayed.
Adhia put out a tweet on Tuesday morning in this regard.
The
new tax regime is set to be rolled out on July 1. Some states had been
calling for the date to be pushed to September citing logistical
concerns.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also recently said that there was no scope for rethinking the July 1 deadline.
"I
think we are in a state of readiness," Jaitley told CNBC-TV18.
"Minister after minister has met me from the states and said do not
blink, stick to July 1."
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council
on Sunday reduced tax rates on 66 items including ketchup, instant food
mixes, pickles, tractor components, computer printers and insulin as the
Centre and the states sought to iron out rough edges ahead of GST’s
roll out from July 1.
The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley-headed GST
Council will again meet on June 18 to take stock of the preparedness of
the new tax system that promises to stitch together a common national
market.
The Council has till now fixed rates of more than 1200 goods and 500 services.
The
new tax structure will have four broad slab structure — 5, 12, 18 and
28 percent — along with a cess on luxury and demerit goods such as
tobacco, pan masala and aerated drinks. Services will also have these
four tax slab structure. Most services, except those in the negative
list of essential services such as healthcare and education, will come
under GST.
13 Jun 2017, 01:01 PM