Central GST first - States to follow later?
WITH the meeting of the State Finance Ministers not reaching a consensus, it is heard that the Centre plans to go ahead with a Central GST and the States to follow soon with their State GST. But don't we already have a Central GST?
After the meeting yesterday, the Chairman of the Empowered Committee, Abdul Rahim Rather, who is the Finance Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, said that the threshold limit for general category States will be Rs. 10 lakh, while it will be Rs. 5 lakh for special category and North Eastern States.
He said that it was decided to recommend to the Central Government that for threshold of Rs. 1.5 crore, the Centre will not interfere in assessment, audit, and other matters. It will be left exclusively to States. He said that about Rs 13,000 crore worth of compensation up to 2010 is pending, while amount for 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 is yet to be calculated.
States want GST compensation structure to be part of the Constitution (Amendment) Bill. GST seems to be a mirage in the hot deserts of Indian politics.