GST: Centre, states are in tandem

New Delhi: The Central government and the states on Tuesday reached a “broad consensus” on the Constitutional Amendment Bill on Goods and Service Tax (GST).

West Bengal finance minister and Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers chairman Amit Mitra said that there was unanimous agreement across states that the issue of control on small businesses is “non-negotiable” and this was clearly conveyed to the finance minister Arun Jaitley.

He said that the Centre and the states agreed on the principle that the GST tax rate will be lower than the current levels. He said it was agreed to include in the Constitu-tional Amendment Bill the mechanism of compensating states for any loss of revenue in first five years of the GST due to subsuming all indirect tax levies including VAT. “Mr Jaitley will explain it to parties that GST cap can’t come in Constitutional Amendment but it can come in GST Bill or GST Act,” Mr Mitra said.