DISPUR: Assam has become the first state in the country to ratify the Constitutional Amendment Bill Good and Service Tax (GST. Finance Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma shared this news on Friday morning through his social media. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled state passed this bill on the last day of Assam ongoing legislative assembly session.
Speaker Ranjeet Kumar Dass announced in the session that Assam Assembly unanimously ratified the bill. Opposition parties like Congress and AIUDF have also come out in support for GST.
The opposition party, in the beginning, did seek a discussion in the Assembly to get a clear picture of how impactful it will be on people, but the speaker turned down their request. After the passage of the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Second Amendment) Bill, 2014, both the Finance Minister and Speaker exchanged sweets with each other.
How will GST bill benefit Assam?
Assam will profit from the GST as it will help to generate better revenue and ensure higher economic growth. Also, Chief Minister believes that Assam has sent a positive signal to rest of the country as it has become the first state to pass the amendment.
Furthermore, Sarma also emphasized that out of the central GST portion, 42 percent will be given back to the state again.For the North Eastern and Himalayan state, the GST bill will have a special concession like if they request a reduction of taxes for any reason.
Moreover, it is believed that the bill will be a blessing in disguise for consumer states as tax will be collected from the place where goods have been purchased. Even though the state may incur a revenue loss of Rs 3,000 crore in the initial period but in the long run the bill will help in the overall growth of the state economy.
In Assam, the tax will be levied on all petroleum products, but alcohol and tobacco products will not be included in the preview for now. The Chief Minister has announced that for next five years the Centre will compensate for all the losses.
How long will it take for the bill to get approved?
The Goods and Services Bill was passed on Monday by the Lok Sabha where 443 members gave their approval in favor for the legislation.
Currently, 15 more states are required to ratify the Constitutional amendment bill on GST. After this, it will be sent to GST Council which will decide on the new tax rate.
On Tuesday Arun Jaitley announced April 1, 2017, as the deadline for the rollout of the bill.
