Govt: GST not levied on food consumed by poor

The government on Tuesday asserted that no food item consumed by the poor has been taxed and five per cent GST has been levied of only on prepacked, labelled items and not on those sold loose. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman replying to a short duration discussion in Rajya Sabha said GST Council has not imposed any new levy on essential items consumed by the poor, though such products were taxed in one form or the other by almost all states in the pre-gst. She also asserted that all states at the GST Council agreed to the proposal to levy 5 per cent GST on pre-packed, labelled food items. TMC members staged a walkout from the House after the Chair didn’t allow its members to raise a point.

Amid Oppositions’ demand to acknowledge problem of price rise and that poor have been hit by the GST, Sitharaman said the government has contained prices of tomato, onion, and potato, while comparing rates with those prevailing in November 2013.

The ruling BJP asserted that inflation is a problem arisen due to global development beyond the control of any country.

The minister said the government has adopted a targeted approach, based on ground-level inputs, to tackle retail inflation which is ruling at around 7 per cent. Sitharaman said almost every state, including West Bengal, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Kerala, imposed levies on items like pulses, flour, curd, paneer, and buttermilk before the GST regime kicked in on July 1, 2017.

“GST Council has members, ministers from every state. They are not alone when they’re inside the GST Council, they sit with their officers as well. So, it’s not as if it’s possible for anyone to say something about some other state outside and get away with it,” said the Union minister.