Babu: GST can’t be perfect from start

While the Goods and Services Tax ( GST) may have been rolled out in a grand manner a few months back, the current version still needs time to be perfect, an official said here on Friday.

Speaking to the media at the sidelines of an ICAI event, Hyderabad Customs and Central GST Commissioner Bankey Behari Agarwal said, “Over the years, both the Centre and the States have worked together to perfect the previous taxation regime. To even expect that the GST would be perfect from the start is unwise.”

Mr Agarwal added that taxation is a complex matter for most nations and for India, whose states too have sovereignty in such matters, is even more difficult.

The transition to GST — a nationwide indirect tax regime — has been seen its fair share of difficulties but the commissioner said, “In comparison to the previous tax regime, GST is quite simple once one gets a hang of it. It has merged over 17 taxes to one for most products.”

Highlighting the GST Council’s move to slash GST on as many as 177 items from the 28 per cent tax bracket, the government is willing to work upon the constructive criticism it gets for any policy. “The government is ready to act upon the feedback it gets. It along with consumers, taxpayers and the CAs form the four pillars in this new tax regime and must work together to make it a success. Failure of GST is not an option as we can’t revert back to the previous regime of 17 plus taxes.”

Mr Agarwal also urged customers to not pay more than the MRP. “One cannot, in any circumstance, charge more than the maximum retail price or MRP printed on the product. Any change due to GST will have a secondary sticker,” he said.