The Gujarat Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill at a special one-day session.
During the debate on the Bill, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Nitin Patel said the State with its robust manufacturing base would lose “some tax income after the GST is rolled out nationally.”
According to sources in the state finance department, with implementation of GST the State’s finances will be hit but the Centre’s proposal to compensate the States for five years will partially offset the losses.
On Tuesday, Leader of the Opposition Shankersinh Vaghela and senior Congress legislator Shaktisinh Gohil demanded changes in the Bill to ensure that revenue income of the State is not affected under GST regime.
“Once GST is introduced, all local taxes like VAT, excise, service tax will stand abolished and only one tax will be levied across the country,” Mr. Patel said while introducing the bill.
He, however, added that the VAT will continue to be levied on petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, crude oil, natural gas, liquor and aviation turbine fuel.
