Govt’s responsibility to build consensus on GST Bill: Ramesh
LUCKNOW: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said that evolving a consensus on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill was the responsibility of the government and not the opposition.
“I am not aware of the NDA government establishing any contact or holding any consultation with the opposition to pave the way for the GST Bill,” added Ramesh, who was speaking to journalists at the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) headquarters here.
About the NDA government’s talks with Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress leader in Lok Sabha), Ramesh said he was not aware of the discussions as talks on the issue may still be going on.
“The Congress was the first to move the GST Bill in 2011 and a promise to implement the GST had been made in the party’s election manifesto in 2009. The Congress had never opposed the GST Bill,” he said.
While in power, his party was not able to bring the GST Bill in view of opposition from the BJP, Ramesh claimed.
He also said the GST should become ‘good and simple tax’ and his party had suggested four amendments to the bill. The Congress wanted that the tax rate should not exceed 18% and was opposed to 1% surcharge. The party also favoured that the local bodies — the panchayats and the nagar palikas — should be adequately compensated and there should be an independent dispute settlement system.
Ramesh added the NDA government had made 15 amendments to the UPA government’s land acquisition law. Though the NDA government later withdrew some of the amendments, his party wanted withdrawal of three more amendments.