The Centre on Thursday expressed gratitude to Chief Ministers for their cooperation in the introduction of “game-changing reform” — GST, which is set to be rolled out from July 1.
The new indirect tax regime will be rolled out on the midnight of June 30 and make India a single market for seamless movement of goods and services.
“This game-changing reform will result in significant ease of doing business as well as reduction in the overall tax burden on the consumers and the common people,” said an official release after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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The Cabinet passed a resolution expressing gratitude to Chief Ministers of States and others for their cooperation in introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), it said.
“GST is the biggest tax reform in independent India. It is one of the most sweeping indirect tax reforms in any federal polity in the world, in which complexities such as multiplicity of taxes and cesses, multiplicity of rates, multiple compliances, and cascading of taxation will be removed,” the release said.
GST is a shining example of national integration and of fiscal federalism at its best, it added.
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“It is a testimony to the working of India’s federal democracy. It has been made possible because of close cooperation between the Central government and all the State governments as well as all political parties,” the government said.
The Cabinet also expressed its gratitude to the GST Council, to the heads of all national and State-level recognised political parties, to all Members of Parliament, to all Members of State Legislatures and to all sections of society including trade and industry associations.
The GST will simplify a web of taxes, regulations and border levies by subsuming an array of Central and State levies including excise duty, service tax and VAT.