Strongly opposing the Centre’s move to include the petroleum products, natural gas, and aviation turbine fuel under the ambit of the GST, State Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Tuesday said the Government of India should not bulldoze the concerns expressed by the States.
Speaking at a programme organised by the Central Tax Department to celebrate the first anniversary of the rolling out of the GST regime, he said levying GST on the petroleum products would force A.P. forfeit a revenue of over ₹9,000 crore.
“Payment of compensation for a fixed period will no way offset the loss to us,” he stated.
Cess on sugar
Stating that the TDP had already represented to the Centre to dispense with the move, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said they had also reacted sharply to the speculation that there was a proposal to impose cess on sugar.
“Imposition of cess on sugar without the approval from the GST Council goes against the letter and spirit of the GST Act,” he said.
Mr. Ramakrishnudu said all the States and Union Territories had arrived at a consensus on the GST concept, but still the Centre had a lot to do to ensure rationalisation of the single tax regime.
“We are ready to extend wholehearted cooperation as long as the Centre agrees not to burden the common man and harass the traders under clauses such as arresting them for non-compliance,” he remarked. The Finance Minister, who is a member of the GST Council, said the onus of removing anomalies rested on the Centre.
“We spend 90% of our revenue on establishment and salaries. Hence, we depend a lot on Central share of our revenue,” he said.
‘Revolutionary reform’
Visakhapatnam MP K. Haribabu described the introduction of ‘GST - one nation, one tax’ as a revolutionary tax reform by the BJP-led NDA Government.
He said the Centre was continuously holding talks with the States to remove problems in its implementation.
Admitting that there were teething problems, he said introduction of a single slab was not possible in India, and they were taking steps for further simplification of the process.
Chief Commissioner of State Tax J. Shyamala Rao; Chief Commissioner of Central Tax Y.S. Sherawat; Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax C.R. Pati; GST Commissioner H. Hareram; CII AP Chairman R.V.S. Raju; AP Chambers of Commerce president G. Sambasiva Rao; RINL Director (Finance) V.V. Venugopal Rao; and HPCL CGM N. Ramachandran spoke.
