The Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Merchants Association has urged Sushil Kumar Modi, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and the new Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on Goods and Services Tax (GST), to ensure that tax exemptions granted to all commodities under value added tax (VAT) continued in the GST also.
In a letter, the association also congratulated him on his unanimous election to the post. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was elected on July 18 in place of the former West Bengal Finance Minister, Asim Dasgupta, who had to bow out following his defeat in the Assembly elections.
The association president, S.P. Jeyapragasam, said that once the GST was implemented, it was expected that number of goods eligible for tax exemption would be restricted to 100. He also urged Mr. Modi who was also the Finance Minister of Bihar to ensure that State Governments had complete authority to increase or reduce the tax rate of commodities.
