The Congress on Friday said the credit for reducing the GST rates of a large of number of items placed in the 28% slab should go to all governments other than that of the BJP, and demanded an overhaul of the IT system of the tax regime.
At a press conference at the Congress headquarters, national spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said an impression was sought to be conveyed that the State governments were completely on board with the current format, but that was not the correct picture.
“I am saying this to dispel the absolute calumny that States were happy and gung-ho. We have letters from the Finance Ministers of Karnataka, Punjab and a few other non-Congress States pointing out four or five key issues. I am sure some populist measures would be taken because of the Gujarat elections,” Mr. Singhvi said.
The Congress also demanded a complete revamp of the IT systems. “The most important thing is how do you set right your IT? Right people are getting extensions on an ad hoc basis because nobody can fill the forms in the time stipulated,” Mr Singhvi said.
He said the Congress and other State governments had suggested delaying the roll-out of the GST by six months with a trial run of the system to remove the glitches.
