Assembly clears GST bill
CHANDIGARH: The Haryana assembly on Thursday unanimously passed the Haryana Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017, which empowers the state to levy and collect tax on intra-state supply of goods or services or both. With this the state has moved forward to launching the goods and services tax (GST) regime.
The Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government had summoned a special single-sitting session to pass this bill. Haryana is among the eight states to have passed this legislation after the Parliament. The Centre and the states will simultaneously introduce GST in the country on July 1.
After an hour-long debate, during which the Congress and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) legislators, aired their concerns over the impact of this legislation, the House passed the bill unanimously.
While wrapping up the debate, excise and taxation minister Capt Abhimanyu said that apart from training the staff, dealers and tax payers were sensitised for migration to GST.
“The workforce of our state is fully prepared to implement GST,” the minister assured the House.
He said there was a possibility that states having strong manufacturing base and are surplus producers, may suffer revenue loss on account of GST.
To offset the initial loss of such states, he said, the Union government will fully compensate them for any revenue losses on account of GST implementation for five years.
Capt Abhimanyu assured the House that GST will boost economic activities and will benefit everyone.
He said that this tax regime will be easier to administer because of its transparent character.
The Constitutional amendment which facilitates the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the country empowers the states to make laws for levying GST on the intra-state supply of goods and services.
In view of this, it was necessary
to have a state legislation— The Haryana State Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017.
This legislation empowers the state to levy goods and services tax on the supply of goods or services or both which takes place within the state.
“The GST tax regime will bring about greater compliance of tax payment. More revenue is likely to accrue by broad basing the tax base, better reconciliation of business transactions and input tax credits,” according to the financial memorandum.
Capt Abhimanyu said GST, to be rolled out on July 1, will provide
a level-playing field for all stakeholders—trade, industry and consumers.
“It will remove fiscal barriers in the form of diverse taxes,” Capt Abhimanyu said, pointing out that the biggest taxation reform measure will benefit both consumers and the traders.
The consumers, he said, will gain from reduction in overall tax burden on goods, which is currently estimated at 25 to 30% and goods will be cheaper.
The traders and industry will have the benefit of streamlined tax administration, avoidance of harassment.