The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry senior president S. Rethinavelu has strongly opposed the idea of levying cess on select goods.
The GST council meeting, which was held last week, had proposed to levy cess on ultra luxury goods like big cars and a few tobacco items. This, the Centre, had pointed at sourcing funds towards compensation to States in the event of any revenue loss, which may be faced over next five years due to implementation of GST.
Whatsoever may be the purpose, the Centre cannot levy cess under the guise of compensating or finding source.
The very idea of introducing GST was to avoid and eliminate all kinds of additions and stick to the one tax principle.
The cess was nothing but diluting the idea of one tax policy.
Instead of levying a blanket cess, the government may consider enhancing higher rate of tax on such ultra luxury products and stop the issue from snowballing into deeper crisis.
The Chamber hoped the GST council meeting would earnestly consider the appeal and try to sort it out in the initial stages and ensure smooth introduction of the much awaited GST from beginning of the next fiscal, Mr. Rethinavelu added.
