The government on Friday said that it has collected over ₹38,000 crore between July and November by levying cess on luxury and demerit goods under the GST regime.
Under the GST regime, a cess is levied on luxury, demerit and sin goods to make good the loss suffered by the states on account of roll out of the new indirect tax regime. This is levied on top of the highest tax rate of 28% on these goods.
Goods and Services Tax (GST), which amalgamated over a dozen local taxes, including excise and service tax, was implemented from July 1, 2017.
The government through GST compensation cess has collected revenue to the tune of ₹38,073 crore between July and November, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
Of this, Rs 7,201 crore was collected for the month of July, ₹7,850 crore (August), ₹8,014 crore (September), ₹7,160 crore (October), ₹7,848 crore (November).
Jaitley further said that the Centre has released ₹24,500 crore to the states to compensate for losses suffered between July-October on account of the roll out of the new indirect tax regime.
Karnataka got maximum compensation from the Centre at ₹3,271 crore, followed by Gujarat (₹2,282 crore) and Punjab (₹2,098 crore).
The other states that required hefty compensation include Rajasthan (₹1,911 crore), Bihar (₹1,746 crore), Uttar Pradesh (₹1,520 crore), West Bengal (₹1,008 crore) and Odisha (₹1,020 crore).
