GST: OPPN SLAMS GOVT

On the eve of the first anniversary of the GST, the Opposition on Saturday, attacked the government over “hiccups” in the implementation of the indirect tax regime. The GST was launched on July 1, 2017..

NEW DELHI: On the eve of the first anniversary of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Opposition on Saturday, attacked the government over “hiccups” in the implementation of the indirect tax regime.

The GST was launched on July 1, 2017 after a ceremony held in the central hall of the Parliament on the midnight of June 30.

The Congress was scathing in its attack of the government’s implementation. “GST completes one year at 12’ O clock tonight. It remains grossly scary tax for millions of traders, shopkeepers and businessmen.

No wonder GST’S more popular description is ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ rather than ‘Genuine and Simple Tax’ that it was meant to be,” party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted on Saturday.

“A single tax GST as promised remains a pipe dream. Multiple returns, multiple rules and multiple tax slabs have made life of an ordinary trader nightmarish,” he said in another tweet.

Surjewala’s party colleague Priyanka Chaturvedi said the first anniversary of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) saw an “unsuccessful implementation; a hurried one for political benefit, because of which the country and its financial stability continue to suffer”.

She added, “The rush to try and seek political benefit out of the GST shows how the government, in a visionless move, has converted a visionary tax reform into a messy one. Going by the countrywide protests, there have been immense hiccups in its implementation.” Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O’brien said his party’s stand on GST has been consistent and that it supported the reform in principle but opposed its unprepared implementation.