Brief Session of Gujarat Assembly soon to clear implementation of GST in state

Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government will convene a special session of the assembly soon to complete the formality of implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in the state, Dy Chief Minister cum finance minister Nitin Patel informed today.

Notably the over a month long budget session of the assembly which started on February 20 ended today.

During his speech in the assembly on the concluding day Patel said that to complete the formality of implementation of GST regime in Gujarat a special brief session of the assembly would be convened. ‘The date of one or two day brief session would be finalized with the consent of the speaker soon,’ he said.

Notably the Lok Sabha cleared four bills related to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Wednesday, setting the stage for 28 states, along with Delhi and Puducherry, to enact state laws over the next three months to roll out the new tax regime from July. After the passage of the 4 bills – Integrated GST, Central GST, Union Territory GST and Compensation Bill- , the GST council comprising of union finance minister Arun Jaitley and his counterparts in various states to finalise rules and product- and service-wise rates by the end of April.

After the clearance of the four bills, several state governments are convening assembly sessions to clear state GST laws, which will enable them to impose tax that is expected to widen the tax base.
The GST Council has recommended a four-tier tax structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28%. On top of the highest slab, a cess will be imposed on Pan Masala, costly cars, tobacco products, soft drinks and coal to compensate states for potential revenue loss during the first five years of implementation.

Notably on the last day of the budget session of the Gujarat assembly apart from tabling of the Justice M B Shah commission report and passage of a strict amendment bill providing for life-imprisonment for cow slaughter, the CAG for 2015-16 report was also tabled.

DeshGujarat