The special session of the state Assembly on Tuesday unanimously ratified the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 paving way for the Centre to introduce Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill.
Both Houses of the Legislature met for a special one-day session to ratify the GST Bill passed by Parliament earlier this month.
While chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao moved the motion in the Assembly, deputy chief minister Kadiyam Srihari moved the motion in the Council. Both Houses ratified the bill unanimously.
While moving the motion, Rao said the state is likely to benefit from the introduction of the GST as it would get 50 per cent of the tax collected in services sector.
Rao said the Bill will help Telangana as the GST Bill empowers states to levy service tax which is currently under the purview of Centre. Explaining the proposed GST, Rao said the GST would replace the existing Value Added Tax (VAT).
“At present the state government is getting Rs 31,700 crore through VAT. Of which, the state was getting around Rs 16,000 crore from various products and the remaining from petrol and diesel. The tax on petrol and diesel will not be covered under GST. So far, the tax on services sector was being collected by the Centre and there is no role of the state governments. In GST, the Centre proposed 50 per cent of services sector tax to the states,” Rao explained. He said the state with its e-commerce, software exports and other services was pioneer in the country in services sector.
‘‘As per the provisions of the GST Bill, the Centre would fill the gap in revenue, if any, for five years. So there should not be any apprehensions of state losing revenues,” the chief minister said.
Source: The New Indian Express