BENGALURU: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill has faced stringent opposition from many states in the past and that is why the bill could not be passed by the previous Congress government. The government will bring the much awaited bill on GST for passage in the Rajya Sabha as soon as possible, according to zeenews.india.com.

Here are seven things you should know about the bill:

1. Passing this bill includes an amendment to the constitution which means it needs to be cleared by two-third majority in both houses of parliament. The BJP's overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha means that hurdle is easy to clear, but it might run into opposition in the Rajya Sabha where the BJP is in a minority and it might deny it. Modi will need to reach out to opposition members to get their vote or else he won't have the numbers for the passage of this bill.

2. The heavily bureaucratic structure of taxes levied by the central and state governments such as excise duty, central sales tax and value added tax will be replaced by a single GST structure. Businesses will find it much easier to operate and expand with the passing of this bill. The implementation of GST bill could boost economic growth by 1 to 2 percent, according to the estimates made by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

3. If the bill clears the Rajya Sabha, it will be the country’s biggest tax reform in years to take place and also indicate that the Modi government has the ability to get difficult legislation passed during its 5 yr period of service to the people. The passing of GST Bill may well be a warning to opposition people who think Modi Government has been unexpectedly slow on reforms.

4. To make sure the GST is implemented across India, state and central governments will need to build necessary infrastructure such as fully computerized commercial tax departments and a unified information technology system which will monitor and collect the new tax. If the bill passes in both the houses, it will still take another year if not more for the required infrastructure to be in place.

5. The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has reached out to all the states to get their support before the bill is passed. He is offering to compensate the states for any loss of revenues for first five years following the implementation of GST Bill. All the States will receive 11,000 crore this fiscal Year towards partial compensation of the losses suffered by them.

6. Alcoholic liquor for human consumption is exempted from the view of the GST bill. Further, the GST Council is to decide when GST would be levied on petroleum crude, high speed diesel, petrol, natural gas, and aviation turbine fuel.

7. E-commerce firms have run into issues with regulatory authorities, such as Amazon's case in Karnataka. The GST is expected to plug gaps in tax laws and resolve such problems from happening in the future.