Newdelhi:1/07/19:The Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur said that Goods & Services Tax (GST) has been a Game Changer for all the stakeholders in the economy. The Minister of State for Finance, Shri Thakur was speaking at the ‘GST Day’ Celebrations organized by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes &Customs (CBIC) on the 2nd Anniversary of GST in New Delhi today.
Prior to GST, in the Constitutional Scheme, Shri Thakur said that taxation power with the Central Government on goods was limited-up to the stage of manufacture and production, while the States had the power to tax sale and purchase of goods. On the other hand, the Minister said that the Centre had the exclusive power to tax services. He said that this sort of division of taxing powers created a grey zone which led to legal disputes since determination of what constitutes a goods or service became increasingly difficult to synergise Central, State and Local Area levies. The MOS(Finance) said that in GST, the transition had been to levy taxes on supplies, and mechanisms to be brought in place in such a way that burden of GST does not fall on business but on the end consumption. By subsuming more than a score of indirect taxes under GST, the road to a harmonized system of indirect tax has been paved to make India an economic union, which has also significantly contributed towards higher efficiency and competitiveness, the Minister added.
The Minister of State for Finance, Shri Anurag Singh Thakurfurther added that our Prime Mister has rightly called GST as “Good and Simple Tax.’’ He said that it is a shining example of GST having made India a true common market is that the transport time and cost of moving goods across the length and breadth of the country have come down significantly. S
Dr. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Revenue Secretary, Shri P.K. Das, Chairman, CBIC and Shri John Joseph,Member, CBICgraced the occasion. Senior officers of various Ministries of the Government of India, senior officers of CBIC, senior retired officers of CBIC, the representatives of all major Trade and industry Associations were also present on the occasion in large numbers.
On this occasion, the Union Minister of State for Finance, Shri Thakur granted Commendation Certificates to 30 CBIC Officers from various formations across the country for their valuable contribution in the administration of GST. He also released a book on “GST for MSME” by CBIC.
At the end, proposing Vote of Thanks, Shri John Joseph, Member (Tax Policy),CBIC assured all the Speakers that CBIC aspires to improvise tax administration with the changing requirement of times and further assured that whatever extra mile is required to work to address the challenges, our endeavour would be to keep improving the tax administration to meet these challenges.
The event ended with the thanks to all those present at the occasion.