Surjewala said that the Indian GST rate was the highest in the world and the 'one nation, one tax' has become 'one nation, seven taxes' and more.
The main Opposition party, Congress, on Saturday dismissed the sops announced at the end of GST Council meeting on Friday as "inadequate" and accused the Central government of lacking any plan to address the structural issues in the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime through fair and transparent consultations.A day after the Narendra Modi-led government made sweeping changes to GST to provide relief to small and medium businesses and exporters, Congress communications in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said GST, which should have been a "good and simple tax" has instead become a "grossly scary tax".
Surjewala said that the Indian GST rate was the highest in the world and the 'one nation, one tax' has become 'one nation, seven taxes' and more.
He also pointed out that the government forgot to give relief to two biggest employment generating sectors — agriculture and textiles.
"This mammoth opportunity is being lost due to sheer incompetence of a panic-stricken Modi government, driven by adhocism and lost in the chaos of its own making," he said. He said all farm inputs and implements have been taxed heavily, including fertilisers, pesticides, and other agricultural equipment, such as tractors, tyres, and submersible pumps.The duty on manmade fiber was reduced from 18 % to 12 %. But the Congress leader said it was insufficient as though the fiber will be taxed at 12%, the end-product, i.e. Fabric, would attract a tax of 5%, taking the overall tax up to 17%. Against this steep tax levied on Indian manufacturers, import of fabric from countries such as China, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka has been permitted at 5% only.
Labelling the government "amateurish, vision-less, and drunk with arrogance", Surjewala said it was wasting a golden opportunity to put India on a growth trajectory due to its "ineptitude and lack of comprehension of issues". He further alleged that the tax refund system had virtually collapsed, with the outstanding tax refund demand of Rs 65,000 crore in July, 2017, alone and exporters were in peril.
The Congress spokesperson then said the entire spirit, direction, and purpose of the GST Bill, introduced by the Congress-led UPA government, was a "single, transparent, and uncomplicated taxation on goods and services, and reduction of prices". He also lamented that there was no road map to bring petro products, electricity, and real estate within the ambit of GST, which has repeatedly been emphasised by experts.
"Adjournment and deferment rather than taking decisions appears to be the way forward for this government, as it had postponed the implementation of tax deduction at source (TDS), tax collection at source (TCS), reverse charge mechanism (RCM), and E-way bill concept till March 31, 2018," he said.
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 "Randeep Singh Surjewala")
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