The Centre’s move to usher in Goods and Services Tax has raised apprehensions among retail traders. The GST should be a simplified and practical tax regime for crores of retail traders, said A.M. Vikramaraja, president, Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangankalin Peramaippu.
Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, he said that it was learnt that the GST would usher in a simplified tax regime for big establishments. The same should apply for the retail trade as well. His federation would launch an agitation if the Union government failed to incorporate suggestions mooted by the trading community which had met the Finance Minister in New Delhi and the Parliamentary Committee members in Chennai and placed their demands with respect to the GST.
In Tamil Nadu, there were over 300 products which were exempted from tax, including rice, textiles and grocery items, while the remaining products were being taxed ranging from one per cent to 14.5 per cent.
Mr.Vikramaraja said if the products, currently exempted from tax, were to be taxed under the GST, it would eventually lead to rise in price and inflation.
The Centre had discussions only with the State governments with respect to GST legislation. It had never invited traders and discussed the crucial issue with them, he said.
The federation had been consistently seeking a single-point tax which would solve many problems, he said adding that this was one of the suggestions placed before the Finance Minister and the Parliamentary Committee.
