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| Pranab to meet state FMs Budget rollout | | |
NEW DELHI: In a first, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to meet all state finance ministers on June 11 as part of pre-Budget consultations. Top on the agenda
for discussion is the rolling out of goods and services tax (GST) and the issues that need to be sorted out before its implementation.
West Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta, who is also chairman of the empowered committee of state finance ministers, said on Tuesday that the FM had invited all state finance ministers. He termed Mukherjee’s initiative as "a good step in the right direction".
GST is proposed to be rolled out from April 1, 2010. However, there are still many issues such as failure of state governments to rationalise the tax structure under the new GST system. With the finance minister calling state finance ministers and GST being on the
agenda, industry is hopeful of its implementation as per schedule. One section believes that the government may go in for phased implementation in case the system is not ready for complete rollout as per schedule. The new tax system will replace excise duty, service tax and VAT at state level into a single tax arrangement.
Other than GST, the state finance ministers may seek increased annual plan outlays under different social sector schemes. Mukherjee has not only called a meeting of state finance ministers setting a precedent, but has also invited representatives from the financial sectors. The FM’s efforts to bring out an all-inclusive Budget has already generated lot of curiosity among various target groups.
Assocham president Sajjan Jindal was quoted as saying that the rollout of GST system would be a big step towards tax reforms even as he expressed doubts on the new tax system meeting its deadline of April 1, 2010.
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