BENGALURU: On August 8, after suffering multiple setbacks and walkouts for months, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitution bill has finally made it through the corridors of Parliament. Marking this historic step for tax reforms PM Modi said, "I thank all political parties, as also state governments run by different parties. We are taking such a decision ... we have reached here after churning in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, 29 states, their representatives and 90 parties. We are putting a stamp on the final decision." The bill received nod of the entire lower house, minus AIADMK members who opted to walkout. The bill will now be ratified by at least 16 states.

The PM said GST will help end tax terrorism and make the consumer “king”, pointing towards seven to thirteen different taxes that will be subsumed. He also informed that the bill will help in curbing the menace of black money and will benefit small traders and entrepreneurs leading to employment generation. The bill is supposed to bring in simplification of tax procedures along with unification of tax rates and processing across the country. Congress, which was a major opposition to the bill earlier, sided with the government after Modi held consultations with former PM Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Complementing on the historic success PM Modi said the passage was not the victory of a party or government, but the victory of the democratic ethos of India and its citizens. He added that the event was a “great step by team India” which will usher transformation and transparency in the taxation machinery. While asserting that the bill will benefit mainly economically backward states, he acknowledged that manufacturing states will take some beating, but will be compensated. The FM informed that the tax rate under the unified GST regime will remain at a “minimum workable rate” which rules out the privilege some individual states enjoyed with higher rates of tax than others. The “minimum workable rate” is yet to be finalized by the GST Council.

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