Goods and Service Tax launched at Central Hall of Parliament: PM says it’s Good and Simple Tax

New Delhi: Goods and Service Tax(GST) was launched today by President of India by pressing a button at midnight in presence of Vice President, Prime Minister, Finance Minister, former Prime Minister Devegauda, Lok Sabha Speaker and others.

The Prime Minister in his address gave credit of GST implementation to all parties and governments. He said GST doesn’t belong to any one party or one government.

He said GST is Good and Simple Tax. Good because it removes the earlier provision of tax on tax and simple because it is same across the country in uniform manner.

Prime Minister remembered Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who unified the country post independence. He said GST unified the nation economically.

Modi said there’s no need to fear from GST. One should stay away from rumours. To connect to GST system is easy. Those upto Rs 20 lakh income are exempted. Those upto Rs 75 lakh need to follow simple procedures.

PM Modi said there are 500 different taxes across India. If you buy something in Delhi, it has one price, if you buy same thing from Gurugram it has different price and if you buy it from nearby in Noida it will again have different price. GST will bring uniformity from Leh to Laksadweep.

The Prime Minister said GST is not just a tax reform but economic reform and will bring social reform.

Finance Minister Arun Jailtey and President Pranab Mukherjee in their speeches recalled how GST was first proposed in Kelkar committee report in December 2002 during the then NDA government.