PU Colloquium: GST to reduce tax burdens, says Prof. Indira Rajaraman

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Noted Fiscal Economist and Member Board of Directors, Reserve Bank of India, Prof. Indira Rajaraman today said that global average of Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate is 16.4 percent but in India, indirect taxes are as high as 28.2 to 30.8 percent. The GST would help in decreasing the tax burden on the consumers, she added.

Prof. Indira Rajaraman was delivering the prestigious Panjab University (PU) Colloquium on the topic of ‘Goods and Services Tax: What and How?’ at the SS Bhatnagar Auditorium, PU (UICET) here today. The colloquium was organised in the collaboration with Department of Economics, PU. PU Vice Chancellor Prof Arun Kumar Grover presided over the colloquium.

Member of the Thirteenth Finance Commission, Prof Indira Rajaraman advocated the GST and described it as important tax reform that would place the country on a higher growth trajectory. She said that GST would replace Excise Levy and Service Tax at the Centre and VAT on Goods & Sales Tax (CST) of the states, which all have cascading effects. She said that the GST would require constitutional amendment.

Obliquely referring to some opposition to the GST, Prof Rajaraman said that every structural reform draws a battle line between immediate winners and losers but eventually all must win. She said that industrial producing states for locational or historical regions stand to loose two percent CST on inter-state sales and some other states like Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra would loose the purchase taxes levied on food grains, oil etc. However, the compensation for revenue loss has been included in the constitutional amendment bill 2014, as a transitory arrangement.

Referring to various developments on GST, Prof Rajaraman said that the GST constitution amendment bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2010, which lapsed and had to be replaced. The constitution Amendment 122 was introduced on December 19, 2014. The amendment creates a GST Council, which would decide on the rate structure and other parameters of the levy so that the Parliament does not have to be approached every time a change is needed, she added.