Amit Mitra asks Centre to come clean on GST

In a letter to Arun Jaitley, West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra says Centre concealed crucial information on service taxpayer base from states.

While the states had so far been led to believe that the service taxpayer base was 1.1 million, new data supplied to the state finance ministers reveal that it is actually 3.05 million—almost thrice of what was assumed so far. This, Dr Mitra argues, has unfairly influenced the discussions, especially on the sharing of administrative powers between the Centre and states.

The sharing of administrative powers between the Centre and the states for controlling traders and service taxpayers in a GST regime has been a point of contention.

After the first meeting of the GST council, it was concluded that the Centre will control all the existing 1.1 million service tax dealers. In the case of goods, it was agreed that goods traders with an annual revenue threshold of less than Rs 1.5 crore would be administered by states and anything above jointly by the Centre and states.

However, in the second meeting of the GST council, the states demurred, claiming the minutes of the meeting did not adequately reflect what was discussed; this forced the council to go back to the drawing board on the administrative control of both goods and services.

“The minutes of the 1st and the 2nd GST council meeting clearly records a tax base of around 1.1 million for service taxpayers,” Dr Mitra wrote in a letter dated 28 October, before adding, “Suddenly, we find that the service taxpayers number has escalated to 3.05 million out of which 2.64 million are shown as active taxpayers.”

“This implies that the service tax base has grown 3 times over 2 years. What is even more surprising is that even a month ago this fact was not told to the states,” he wrote, adding that the figures seem an afterthought, surfacing only after the issue of dual control was discussed in the last GST council meeting held on 18-19 October.

In his letter, Dr Mitra also pointed out that the disaggregated data of value-added tax (VAT), excise and service tax base based on thresholds of Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 20 lakh had not been shared with the states so far. He also added that the states were likely to get the updated data on the taxpayer base only by 1 November, which left them only a day to deliberate before the GST council meeting. The data shared with states by the GST council secretariat was updated as of 19 January 2016.

 

Bengal did not backtrack on GST: Amit Mitra

Q: Your state has been one of the biggest proponents of goods and services tax (GST). What happened, what went wrong, why did the state backtrack on the GST bill?

Dr Mitra: I don’t think that the state backtracked at all. There was a special session called for a very difficult and important subject—changing the name of the state—and that involved 3-4 hours of discussion. There was also a dengue issue which the opposition wanted to raise and Mamata Banerjee was gracious in having discussed at the democratic level that required several hours. We had a third topic which related to centre-state relations vis-àvis flow of funds.

Now if you have to do a GST in the middle of that one-day session it will require at least 2-3 hours of discussion, according to demands made by both sides of the floor. West Bengal led by Mamata Banerjee has been the biggest supporter of GST. It was we who helped the most not only in the Lok Sabha, but in the Rajya Sabha as well.

In 2009 in our manifesto we had GST. I believe you only need 50% states to ratify and it has been ratified and after the assembly session where we could not accommodate because of the local serious pressures of name change of the state, I have chaired an empowered committee meeting as finance minister of West Bengal where we called all the industry associations, company secretaries, chartered accountants and small and medium enterprises. So this is a work in progress.

Q: By when do you think would this be passed by your assembly?

Dr Mitra: Well, it is a matter of the next assembly meeting, whenever it comes, we will bring it up, but at this time there is practically no need to go through this process as a binding issue, because the President has already given assent. We are the most important supporters of the GST for the people of India.

Q: Which is why it came as a surprise to many and they said that possibly there are some issues that you want to sort out before you pass the bill.

Dr Mitra: Issues are parallel issues, issues which relate to federalism in India …. nothing to do with GST. For example, over Rs6,000 crore has not been received by the state including 100 days work compensation, so it is an ongoing process.

We have taken 26% equity in a deep sea port. We are also building our own state ports, there is a conversation going on.

In centre-state relations, we stand for federalism, this is an ongoing process. It is a different track altogether. As far as we are concerned, the government-to-government relawhat tionship goes on with its processes.

GST is for national interest and therefore Mamata Banerjee stood in support of it. That will continue and I continue to chair the empowered committee of finance ministers on behalf of my state. What is happening as far as the empowered panel meetings are concerned in terms of the discussion or rather the differences as far as a rate is concerned? Some states say it should be raised up to as much as to 24%, some say it should be around

Q: 18%. How are those discussions going; where do you think it will settle?

Dr Mitra: I think the key point is there are multiple rates given by researchers, so the chief economic advisor to the government of India suggested 15-15.5% in the average rate, then you had at one time National Institute of Public Finance and Policy suggesting 27% and there is the Vijay Kelkar committee report, which came as the first report on GST, suggesting 12%. This is a matter of revenue neutrality so that state revenue is preserved. Different states may have different views but has happened is the empowered committee has fully given support unanimously to the fact that we have two principles.

Principle one: GST rate should not be such that common people get inflationary pressure. What’s the point of GST, which at the end of the day is for the people?

Principle two: it should not be so low that states do not get revenue, centre has to compensate for 5 years and they don’t have the money to compensate. Despite constitutional process they may get into a problem, so it should be an optimal rate, not a maximal rate.

Q: Where is that optimal rate coming up to?

Dr Mitra: This is exactly what the GST council will debate in the coming weeks. I am sure it will be a full debate.

Q: Do you think between 20-22% is where it should land in terms of a cap?

Dr Mitra: It would be very difficult for me to hazard a number as a guess. It would be pre-empting the views of other state finance ministers.

Q: If I talk to you as the finance minister of Bengal, what would your view be?

Dr Mitra: I would not present the view here. I would present it at the GST council. The reason is, we have to discuss it, we have to listen to each other, only then after listening to arguments of each other along with the Union finance minister who is the chair of the GST council, will we arrive at a decision. It is too pre-emptive today for me to just give you a rate. It would be unfair and wrong.

I am not asking you to give me a rate and say that this is the rate that we will finalize because obviously it is a discussion, there are so many states and Union territories that would be discussing it. But from the perspective of a finance minister of a state, if you look at your revenue, if you look at the taxation system and stuff, where do you think the cap could come up to?

I don’t think I can hazard a number for you because as chairman of the empowered committee I cannot say, I just cannot give you a number. Let it come up in the GST council which is happening very soon, let it be discussed.

It is a national issue, this is a very serious issue. I have given you the principle which the empowered committee has defined unanimously—not so high that the industry passes that on to the consumer and there is inflationary pressure. In fact, during the discussion of the empowered committee with the chambers of commerce, one of the questions raised by finance ministers was, when taxes are raised industry tends to pass on those taxes to the consumers and why should they bear it?

Q: When taxes get lowered, will the industry pass this on to the consumers?

Dr Mitra: So, I would say that we have defined the principles at the empowered committee of all finance ministers across political parties and across states.

Q: For the panel there are two months to discuss and come up with a consensus as far as all the issues are concerned. Do you think that is a fair enough time?

Dr Mitra: It depends on the intensity with which this is conducted. If you are going to do it on a war footing every day, every week where everybody becomes available, attempt will be to see how this can come up within a certain space of time. Also it will depend on the number of industrial issues that come up. For example, today an industry has 5% value added tax (VAT) and now it is going to face X percent revenue neutral rate (RNR), that industry may be employing 20 million people, that industry will come up and say to you please don’t change my 5% to a much higher number.

So, that has to be discussed in the GST council. There may be categorization of areas, where there are sin goods, there are luxury goods, there are non-luxury goods, all this has to be defined to the satisfaction of the entire GST council.

So, all this will come on the table and already the empowered committee has received many representations. It will go into 6,000-7,000 pages of representations from the industry because we invited that as there should be dialogue. All this has to be collated, structured, made into some kind of a framework and then on principles this will be discussed at the GST council.

 

Edited Excerpts from an interview published in Livemint

 

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hails passage of GST Bill

Welcoming the passage of the GST bill in Rajya Sabha, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed hope that it will give relief to micro and small businesses and remain under single control of the states.

“We have consistently supported the idea and implementation of GST. Good constitutional amendment was passed today,” she said in a tweet.

“Now in GST Bill in Nov, all states want to give relief to micro and small businesses which must remain single control of the states,” WB CM posted on Twitter soon after the Bill passed in the Upper House of Parliament.

 

জিএসটি বিল পাস হওয়ায় খুশি মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা

রাজ্যসভায় জিএসটি বিল পাস হওয়ায় খুশি মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়। তিনি আশা প্রকাশ করেন যে ভবিষ্যতে জিএসটি বিলে ক্ষুদ্র ও মাঝারি ব্যবসায়ীদের স্বার্থরক্ষা করা হবে এবং তারা রাজ্যের আওতায় থাকবে।

“আমরা ধারাবাহিকভাবে জিএসটি বিলের ভাবনাকে সমর্থন করে এসেছি। আজ যে সাংবিধানিক সংশোধনী পাস হয়েছে সেটি ভালো” টুইটে বলেন মুখ্যমন্ত্রী।

“নভেম্বরে যে বিলটি আনা হবে তাতে সব রাজ্যই চায় যেন ক্ষুদ্র ও মাঝারি ব্যবসায়ীদের স্বার্থরক্ষা করা এবং তারা যেন রাজ্যের আওতায় থাকে,” তিনি বলেন।

Derek O’Brien speaks on the GST Bill | Full Transcript

Sir, I’m still often asked, is your party supporting the Constitutional Amendment on GST? I’m sad actually that I’ve been asked this question, because we should put this question to the Government and the principal Opposition party. We often get confused when they are supporting and when they are not; what their stand is depends on where they sit.

Trinamool consistent on GST

There are many of us in the middle who have been the most consistent on this issue, like my party, the Trinamool Congress. In our 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2016 manifestos we have promised GST – we promised it as an idea and also as an implementation. But we’ll come to that. But when people get up here to speak, especially when they are such articulate lawyers, I feel like a teenager in their presence.

Girgit Samjhauta Tax

I’m going to talk about the details of this Bill – I had great experience being on the Select Committee and I’m going to talk about that in great detail – but before we get into the nitty gritty of the Bill, Sir, there is the politics of the Bill. And sometimes, when it’s convenient, the Government or the principal opposition party do not want to discuss the politics of the Bill.

When you ask someone what is GST, they’ll probably tell you it’s Goods and Services Tax; but GST could also be interpreted as Girgit Samjhauta Tax, because the way these two parties have behaved, it has been ten years of ping-pong. The Olympics are coming, they would have won the us medals in ping pong, Sir.

Ping-pong politics

Now let me tell you about this ping-pong match between the treasury and the Opposition benches.

I would like to read from the election manifesto of 2009 of a party; page 19, point 6: “CST will be abolished and GST would be rationalised between 12% and 14%.”

Whose manifesto is this? The BJP. They haven’t taken it off, it’s still on their site.

My senior learned friend, now the Leader of the House once said: “We won’t be fairly treated. We wi’ll cut off our own hands, our constitutional authority and hand over all fiscal powers to the Centre.”

Mr Jaitley has said many things about FDI in retail also, when he was Leader of the Opposition. But as I said, they take their stand based on where they sit, Sir. And they are such great lawyers, you give them any brief, they’ll twist it to meet that only, with all due respect.

Sir, there’s a very interesting quote I found from 2011, Sir.

It says, “The new Constitution amendment draft proposed by the Government of India, is retrograde. It is completely against fiscal federalism.”

This was said by Saurabh Patel, Finance Minister of Gujarat in 2011. Now, I’ve forgotten who the Chief Minister of Gujarat was in 2011. but this was said, Sir. And, the now Honourable Prime Minister said in February 2014, “Without proper IT and infrastructure, GST is impossible to implement.”

Sir, this politics of GST is very very important because for two years, two Houses were stalled by two abbreviations by the BJP – one was GST and the other one was FDI. So, Sir, their memory is very very short.

Go Slow Tactics

Sir, we’re done with the BJP. Now we get to this side. My Chidambaram used a very nice phrase – GST, he said, was ‘Good Sense Triumphs’ – nice one, Sir. But our interpretation, or your interpretation when your colleagues came to the Select Committee, was not ‘Good Sense Triumphs,’ it was ‘Go Slow Tactics.’

This is exactly what your colleagues did in the Select Committee. And all of us here in the middle, who are not the Congress or the BJP – the SP, the BSP, the BJD, the DMK, the NCP, the CPI, all of us saw the go-slow tactics. Unfortunately the Select Committee is not telecast on prime-time television, these parliamentary debates are.

Implementation

Mr Chidambaram today made the point about his party supporting the idea of GST. Of course, we are also for the idea. But only having an idea is not good, we are for the IMPLEMENTATION of GST. And Mr Chidambaram made a nice point about the triangle. The triangle has to be decided between the Finance Minister and the States and the people. Yes, Sir, I want to tell the people, we also believe you have to find a solution. The difference between us and the Congress, we believe, the bottom of the triangle is the people.

GST cap

All of us are on the same page on this. Eighteen per cent cannot go into that constitutional amendment. You spend every minute of the Select Committee stopping it. The Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers, with 21-22, are unanimous that you cannot have the 18% either in the constitutional amendment or in the GST Bill.

But the language I was hearing today is the language of ‘hold on, we let you play the first innings, when it comes to the second innings, we’ll try and block you.’ I think if the tone is conciliatory, and the tone ought to be conciliatory, this Parliament must debate, must deliberate, must legislate, good – but we also need to implement, we must implement.

Role of Rajya Sabha

Sir, now let’s come to the role of the Select Committee. Thank heavens for the Rajya Sabha, because if there was no Rajya Sabha, there would have been no Select Committee, and then you would have not got the wisdom of the Rajya Sabha.

Let me give a quote to you, Sir. It was said in April 2016 (very recently, Sir) –

“To what extent the Upper House is going to be used to block economic decision-making? In Australia, the UK, Italy, the debate is on, because ultimately, the weight of a directly elected House will always have to be maintained”.

This was said by the Leader of the House. Mr Arun Jaitley, if you are being in a conciliatory mood this is not what the Leader of the House could have said. You used the Lok Sabha to bulldoze legislation. The Bill came to the Rajya Sabha, there were points made, everyone had points to make, and based on these points, Sir, there were lots of changes to the legislation.

Consensus among States and Centre

Yes, there was the exempted category on petroleum. States had a problem with that, and we appreciate that it was taken care of. So were tobacco products, so were inter-State transactions, so was the dispute redressal mechanism; we did not want a separate authority. All that is fine. We appreciate that the Government reached out to the States, worked with the States, worked with the Finance Ministers.

Compensation

Sir, but on the ground I want to flag one issue regarding implementation. It is the issue of compensation for CST; I am giving you one example because it concerns my State. I am trying to flag how difficult it is to implement this. Sir on CST, Centre owes my State dues worth Rs 6,500 crore. Not only my State, Odisha has about is also owed Rs 3000 crore. Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Telangana all have a lot of outstanding dues, Sir, because of CST.

Sir, in Clause 19, we did make the point, the word MAY will become SHALL and the compensation will be taken care of (up to was dropped) for five years. We appreciate that, Sir. The word ‘full’ compensation was not used in the legislation. I would request the Finance Minister to please clarify that on the floor of this House.

Clause 10

Sir, I want to refer one point about The Constitution One Twenty-Second Amendment Bill as reported by the Select Committee of the Rajya sabha. Here if you look at Clause 10 it is not what was unanimously recommended at the Select Committee. I will read the Clause 10 which was Select Committee Recommendation – “The goods and services tax levied and collected by the Government of India, except the tax apportioned with the States under clause (1) of Article 169A, shall also be distributed between the Union and the States in the manner provided in clause (2).”

Dual control

Sir, small business with less than Rs. 1.5 crore turnover should be kept out of dual control and once that figure goes above Rs 1.5 crore then it should be done jointly between the Centre and the State. Sir, this is very crucial because we don’t want to go into November, and then hit a roadblock for rolling out GST in April, 2017. I need this clarification. I am very scared when I hear April, 2017. Because it is April Fools’ Day. And this ping pong match cannot continue any longer. We need to implement GST in April, 2017. That’s why I am being specific, Sir.

Registration and Compliance

Sir, there are other issues on the implementation. Through you, Sir, I want to flag these issues for the Finance Minister. One of these is not a legislative issue but concerns implementation – GST registration. People will be registering not once not twice but three times in a state.

GST compliance also cannot be 4 or 5 per cent. Sir there is ambiguity, and I don’t want to get technical in the discussion, of supply and value of taxable supply. I think in the implementations, Sir, we seriously need to look at this.

Empowered Committee

Sir, I would be failing in my duty if I did not put on record here the great job done by the Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers across the States. It is my pleasure and privilege that my colleague Dr Amit Mitra, the Hon’ble Finance Minister of Bengal, in 150 days led the team and developed a very broad consensus among the States.

Move over electoral politics

Sir, I was wondering if the politics of the GST will continue into November or from this being a ping-pong match it will become a cricket match where you will play the first innings and then in the 2nd innings it will stop because of rain or other reasons.

Sir, so I did a research on a few countries where GST was passed and in one or two years elections were held. To assure the BJP, after the GST was passed the ruling party won the elections in Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Argentina and Indonesia. That was the good news, now the bad news. There are also some countries where after GST was implemented, the elections were lost – Brazil, UK, Germany and South Africa. So, it’s a 50-50 toss. So my appeal to the BJP and the Congress is that don’t let those election results bother you because they could go either way; bring in this GST.

Bottomline

Sir, I will end with a little story. Sir, in 2005, there was a small boy in class X in a little-known school in Delhi – Saviour School. Sir, he was born around the time when the GST concept was first introduced. This boy is now winning us great victories in cricket matches. He is Virat Kohli.

 

There are millions of Virat Kohlis who are looking at us today. For their sake and for the sake of India tomorrow we need to deliberate, we need to debate, we need to legislate and we need to implement this GST. The faster we do it the better.

Trinamool supports GST Bill in RS, slams ping-pong politics of Congress-BJP

Consistent with the party’s stand in favour of GST, leader of the party in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien today reiterated the support for GST Bill in the Upper House.

He said that the issue of Goods and Services Tax feature in all the manifestos of the Trinamool Congress  since 2009 while the current ruling party and the principal Opposition party have changed their stands based on where they sit.

Regional parties are consistent

The Government and Opposition party often change their stand based on where they sit. Parties in the middle are consistent on their stand on the GST.

Girgit Samjhauta Tax

GST has been pending from 2006 to 2016. GST could also be interpreted as Girgit Samjhauta Tax. GST has been 10 years of ping-pong politics between the ruling party and the principal Opposition party. They could win India a medal in Olympics in ping pong.

The ping pong on GST

In their election Manifesto in 2009 BJP said CST  will be abolished and GST will be rationalised between 12 and 14 percent.

As the Leader of the Opposition, Jaitley ji in 2011 said, “We won’t be fairly treated. We will cut off our own hands, our Constitutional authority and hand over our fiscal powers to the Centre.”

Again in 2012,  on FDI in retail he said,  “Structured international retail chains would source the products internationally, to the detriment of India’s manufacturing sector.”

In 2011, the Gujarat Finance Minister Saurabh Patel said, “The new constitution amendment draft proposed by the Government of India is retrograde in nature and completely against the fiscal federalism.”

Who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2011?

Cap of 18% on GST rate

Only having an idea of GST is not enough. We are for the implementation of GST. All of us are on the same page. 18 percent cannot go into the Constitutional Amendment.

Role of a Select Committee

BJP uses the Lok Sabha to bulldoze legislation. Thanks to Rajya Sabha, many positive changes were made. Clause 10 in the Bill is not what was unanimously recommended by the Select Committee. The proceedings of the Select Committee are not televised or else the country would have seen how Congress used ‘Go Slow Tactics’ in the committee.

CST compensation

My State is still owed Rs 6500 Cr as CST compensation. Even Odisha is owed Rs 3000 Cr. I want the Finance Minister to clarify on full compensation.

Dual control

Small business with less than Rs. 1.5 crore turnover should be kept out of dual control. The government must assure the House they will pass a Bill in November and not let the ping-pong match turn the GST Bill into an April Fools’ joke in 2017.

Implementation

Under the three level tax structure proposed under GST (Central, State, interstate), people selling their products or supplying them, across the country will have to get three different registrations in every state.

How does the Government propose to ensure that compliance in GST will not be as low as it is in income tax collections?

Empowered Committee

We appreciate the fact that the Government reached out to the States and worked with the Finance Ministers. I want to put on record the great job done by Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers. Dr Amit Mitra, the Finance Minister of Bengal, who headed the Empowered Committee for 150 days also deserves credit.

Rise above electoral politics

Governments lost elections in Brazil, UK, Germany and South Africa after passing GST Bill. In Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Argentina and Indonesia, they came back to power. Don’t let the election results bother you, bring about the GST Bill legislation.

Bottomline

A boy who was in Class X in 2005 when GST Bill was first introduced, is winning us cricket matches now. He is Virat Kohli. For the sake of many more Virat Kohlis,the young generation of tomorrow, we must debate, deliberate and legislate and take the country forward.

 

The image is representative

There is universal support for GST: Amit Mitra

Dr Amit Mitra, the Finance, Commerce and Industries Minister of West Bengal, who is also the Chairman of the Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers on GST, today said that there was universal support for GST.

“The enthusiasm and participation today was very high. 23 Finance Ministers attended the meeting today in Kolkata,” Dr Mitra said. He added that every State presented their perspective and there were only two issues regarding which there are concerns.

“The first issue is that of dual control – between Centre and State. The panel today took a decision that only above a limit of Rs 1.5 crore will the dual control come into play. Small entrepreneurs will remain out of GST ambit,” Dr Mitra said.

The issue of Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR) will be taken up during a meeting in July, the Minister added. “There are two suggestions, one putting the RNR at 17% and the other at 26%,” the WB Finance Minister said while adding that officials have been asked to submit presentations based on which the committee will decide the optimal RNR.

Dr Mitra asserted that GST was a win-win for all and will benefit industry as well as the consumers. He also reiterated Mamata Banerjee’s support for GST.

Trinamool supports GST Bill in Lok Sabha

Trinamool Congress today supported the The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Second Amendment) Bill, 2014 in Lok Sabha that paves the way for Goods and Services Tax. Chief Whip of the party in Lok Sabha, Kalyan Banerjee said the party supports the Bill broadly, while maintaining that the States must receive adequate compensation.

“GST should not be levied on petroleum products. Apprehensions of States must be appropriately addressed,” he argued. Kalyan Banerjee added that States should be treated at par with Centre & should have power to impose sales tax over and above GST on tobacco products.

He also said, “since revenue of States will depend on the inter-State transactions, they should have authority to verify transactions.”

Click here for the full transcript

Trinamool Supports GST, but the States must be adequately compensated

Trinamool supports the concept of GST, but is of the opinion the States must be adequately compensated. The Manifesto of the party released for Lok Sabha 2014 states that the party will support GST “on condition that there is a consensus among all States on the nature of the GST to be introduced. Interests of States cannot be trampled on this matter.”

Trinamool MP and Chief Whip in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien today asked the Union Finance Minister on the floor of Rajya Sabha regarding his promise of having another meeting with the State Finance ministers. He reflected the party stand and said, “We are not against GST, all we ask for is adequate compensation for States.”

Professor Saugata Roy echoed the same opinion in Lok Sabha. He said that States must be adequately compensated and the Bill must be passed only with the consensus of States.

The issue that concerns the state is the revenue loss. Bengal stands to lose Rs 8200 crore in revenues in the first year if the draft Constitutional amendment bill on GST is passed in Parliament in its current form, said Finance Minister Amit Mitra.

“The chairman of the empowered committee had told me that the draft bill would be discussed in the committee before submission to the Cabinet. But to our surprise it was cleared by the Cabinet on Wednesday undermining the empowered committee and the federal structure,” Mitra said.

Bengal to lose Rs 8200 crore after GST roll out: Amit Mitra

Bengal stands to lose Rs 8200 crore in revenues in the first year if the draft Constitutional amendment bill on goods and services tax (GST) is passed in Parliament in its current form, said Finance Minister Amit Mitra. The amount is almost 20% of its own revenue generation of Rs 40000 crore and 29% of the debt repayment of Rs 28000 crore. Of this, just capital repayment is Rs 9000 crore, almost equal to the revenue loss.

Alarmed at the haste of the Central government in getting the bill tabled in Parliament, Amit Mitra has written to the Chairman of the Empowered Committee, A R Rather, demanding an urgent discussion.

Bypassing States

In the last empowered committee meeting in Delhi on December 11, Bengal had vehemently opposed the proposal to bring petrol and petroleum products under GST, and the plan to do away with states’ power to levy taxes on select items or “declared goods” as provided under Article 286 of the Constitution. As many as 29 states had supported Bengal.

“The chairman of the empowered committee had told me that the draft bill would be discussed in the committee before submission to the Cabinet. But to our surprise it was cleared by the Cabinet on Wednesday undermining the empowered committee and the federal structure,” Mitra said.

Petroleum products

Elaborating the tax implications for Bengal, Mitra said that if petrol and petroleum products were brought under GST, the state would lose up to Rs 2350 crore annually. Petroleum products and tobacco are revenue earners for Bengal.

The sales tax on diesel in Bengal is 17% while that is on motor spirit (petrol) is 25%. There is also a cess of Rs 1 on both diesel and petrol along with some ad valorem surcharges.

The total revenue on this account is Rs 3000 crore. Besides petrol and tobacco, the draft GST bill also proposes to subsume entry tax and keeps CST out of the divisible pool.

Revenue loss

According to Dr Mitra, the state would lose between Rs 1200 crore and Rs 1500 crore on account of entry tax while the loss from tobacco will be Rs 350 crore.

“The major blow will be CST. At present, the total dues of all states from the divisive pool is Rs 78000 crore while our due is Rs 4500 crore from 2010. Under the GST bill, the Centre will offer only Rs 11000 crore to the states of which our share will be Rs 400 crore. The perpetual loss every year on this account will be Rs 2600 crore from the second year of GST rollout,” he said.