Gandhinagar: The one day special session of the Gujarat assembly will be held tomorrow to complete the formality of implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in the state from July 1.

Minister of State for parliamentary affairs Pradipsinh Jadeja today said that it was necessary to pass a legislation in the assembly to make this uniform tax regime effective in Gujarat. This is the only agenda of the session.

It is learnt that the assembly during the passage of the GST related bill for the state would also make provision for giving powers of collection of entertainment tax to the local bodies in urban areas.

Notably the Lok Sabha had on March 29 cleared four bills related to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) 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 1. 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 started the act of finalizing rules and product- and service-wise rates.

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.

Opposition Congress has demanded inclusion of other agendas and extension of the session for at least 3 days.

DeshGujarat