One of the important points of discussion in all the pre-Budget recommendations that are going to the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, from the stakeholders all over the industry and business sector, is the newly introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the issues related to this indirect tax regime.
The important organizations like Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Federation of Indian Exports Organization (FIEO), Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME), and others have spoken about their GST concerns. These concerns were raised in meeting that Jaitley has had with them recently on the pre-Budget consultations.
According to the GST India News, the bodies like CII and FICCI have asked for the rationalization of GST rates so that the new tax structure is smoother, while the exporters have spoken about the concerns related with the refund of taxes and extension of duty draw back system for GST for a year. GST charged on the freight for carrying fruits and vegetables was also talked about.
Along with the GST concerns, almost every one demanded by the board for the tax rate cuts for businesses and individuals. The industrialists said that this move will offshoot the domestic investment and also demand, and will recollect country’ competitive environment internationally.
The government has lent its ears to the stakeholders, but its focus point to the Union Budget 2018-19 is quite clear. The main areas to focus upon remains to be Infrastructure, social sector programs, and agriculture. Also, because the general elections in 2019 are impending, these three are highly politically sensitive sectors, as per GST news India.
The GST-Council-like Empowered Group of State Agricultural Ministers is set-up to instrument the Agricultural Reforms. The FM is in ordinance with the demands of the social sectors stakeholder organizations on the point that the Administrative Ministries must go for the welfare scheme funds for the beneficiaries.
The FM has not only welcomed this suggestion, but he has also promised to make sure that the cost-effective fund utilization of the welfare schemes across social sector ministries will happen. A greater allocation of funds for child protection schemes and nutrition security is on the cards. Also, quality of government schools to be improved, the healthcare facility for the elderly to be heightened, incentives to ensure better employment scenario for a working mom, streamlining the vocational training to encourage employment, solving labor issues in the informal sector, are some of the points under the discussion.
FM also desires to seek more private investments as he strongly believes that the private investment coupled with the public and foreign investment is the way to bring growth and create job opportunities for the country. He also talked about the initiatives of the government such as setting up of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) to encourage investment in infrastructure sector.
GST has been a revolution. The way forward is the convergence of 3 to 4 rates to include all excluded items, simplify compliance, remove the applicability of GST on Intra-entity transfer of services within the same legal entity, clarity on anti-profiteering provisions under GST, etc.
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