The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed four Bills essential for the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax, the deadline for which is July 1. The Lok Sabha had passed these Bills on March 29.
One more piece of legislation, the State GST Bill, will have to be passed by the legislative assemblies of States and Union Territories with legislature.
The passage of the Central GST Bill, Integrated GST Bill, GST Compensation Bill, and the Union Territory GST Bills followed a two-day debate in the Rajya Sabha.
Opposition leaders raised several objections to the Bills, many of which were similar to those raised in the Lok Sabha. These included disempowerment of the Parliament in setting tax rates and the reason behind several tax rates.
“The Goods and Services Tax is the collective property of the country in which States, political parties and successive governments have taken part,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his statement.
“It is the only tax levied by both the Centre and the States. The fact of the matter is that with the advantages of GST and the resultant free-flow of goods and services across the country, a lot of conveniences will come in.
“The GST Council will have the power to make suggestions regarding the rate under the GST,” Mr.Jaitley added. “But the plenary power will remain with Parliament. We can of course ask the Council to reconsider its suggestion.”
