The GST Council was a live body and would constantly monitor the implementation of the Goods & Services Tax throughout the country and in case some discrepancies become obvious, changes would be made accordingly. Therefore, there was no need for the businesspersons and traders to fear the upcoming ‘one nation–one tax’ regime, said Telangana Finance Minister Eatala Rajender on Thursday.
Seeking to allay apprehensions among the business class on GST to come into force from July 1, the Minister said the government would be behind them and support them in case any difficulty arises during the implementation. “We have constantly argued for reducing taxes and increasing the tax base to keep tax neutral collection so that there will be no dip in revenue, but we were over-ruled. Nevertheless, we will keep fighting for it,” he said.
Mr. Rajender was speaking at the ‘GST Awareness Programme’ organised by the TS Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Trade. He also appealed to the members of the federation to see to it that tax compliance was 100% so they could do their respective businesses “with their head held high instead of depending on the mercy of officials or politicians”.
He also pointed out that since there would be little or no human intervention in the GST with everything being computerised, there would be no scope for any kind of partisanship or harassment.
Earlier, Revenue Secretary Somesh Kumar termed the GST the biggest revolutionary step of post-Independence era, but there was nothing to fear since it was only “replacing VAT”.
“With GST, you will be able to do your trading from anywhere in the country. Another window will be open on June 25 for fresh enrolment into GST for those with a turnover of ₹20 lakh and above,” he said, while stating that there was a transition provision for accumulated goods.
TSFCCT president A. Prakash, general secretary C. Nanda Kumar and others spoke.
