news details |
|
|
| GST next logical step towards tax reforms: Rather | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 9: Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), J&K State Council organized an interactive session on the implication of Goods and Services Tax in Jammu today. The Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs Mr. Abdul Rahim Rather was the Chief Guest on the occasion.
Mr. Rather in his address complimented the Confederation of Indian Industry for taking the lead in organizing the interactive session on Goods and Services Tax.
The Finance Minister said that the globalization of the economy had necessitated review of our indirect tax system which even after two decades of reforms remains deficient. It had a hybrid tax structure with a narrow and fragmented tax base coupled with improper taxation of services sector which otherwise makes up half of the Gross Domestic Product.
Mr. Rather added that for an indirect tax system to evolve, it has to balance the revenue raising ability of the Government with the need to ensure that the business didn’t become overwhelmed with the burden of tax collection. He said that the answer to this problem had been found in the form of a comprehensive and unified tax system vis; the Goods and Services Tax System.
Referring to the Value Added Tax regime, the Finance Minister said that the introduction of the same at the Central and the State level was considered to be a major step and an important breakthrough in the sphere of indirect tax reforms in the country.
Mr. Rather said, “Introduction of Value Added Tax has been considered to be a major step in the sphere of indirect tax reforms in India. If the VAT is a major improvement over the pre-existing Central Excise Duty at the national level and the sales tax system at the State level, then the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will indeed be a further significant improvement and the next logical step towards a comprehensive indirect tax reform in the country”.
The Finance Minister had earlier also dwelt at length on the salient features of the ‘Discussion Paper on Goods and Services Tax (GST) released by the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers in New Delhi on 10th of November, 2009. Mr. Rather said that the idea of introducing GST in the country, for which the tentative date of introduction is 1st April, 2010, was not to unduly burden the trade or industry but to simplify the existing tax structure and to take care of tax cascading which still existed in the production and distribution chain.
He said that keeping this objective in view, an announcement was made by the then Union Finance Minister in the Union Budget (2007-08) to the effect that Goods and ServicesTax would be introduced with effect from Ist April, 2010 and that the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers would work with the Central Government to prepare a road map for introduction of Goods and ServicesTax in India. After this announcement, the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers in consultation with experts and Chambers of Industry and Commerce prepared a comprehensive road map and sent it to the Union Finance Ministry which commented upon it after thorough discussions. The comments of the Ministry were again considered by the Empowered committee. On the basis of the discussions and deliberations, the Empowered Committee recently issued the First Discussion paper for eliciting views of the Industry, Trade, Consumers and other stakeholders thereon.
Mr. Sanjay Puri, Chairman CII J&K State Council earlier while welcoming the dignitaries and the participants said that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was a part of the proposed tax reforms which centers around evolving an efficient and harmonized consumption tax system in the country.
The technical session was conducted by Mr. Pratik Jain, Executive Director KPMG, New Delhi and Mr. R.C. Gupta, Director Finance Glaxo Smithkline, Asia Pvt. Ltd.
From the Government side, Mr. R. K. Koul, Special Secretary Finance , Mr. B.S. Dua Director Industries, Mr. R.K. Razdan MD SICOP, Mr. M. Mauzzam MD SIDCO, Mrs. Vineeta Gupta Additional Commissioner Commercial Taxes, Dr. M.I. Parray Director EDI and other Government official were also present during the session.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
