GST Bills to be tabled in Rajya Sabha today, Congress-led opposition likely to press for amendments

After the Lok Sabha on March 29, cleared the four Goods and Service Tax (GST) bill in a 7-hour debate, the four GST bills will be presented for discussion in Rajya Sabha today. The bills that will be tabled in Rajya Sabha include Central GST, Integrated GST, UT GST and GST Compensation. It is been speculated that the Congress-led opposition likely to press for amendments in the debate today.

In Lok Sabha, the centre passed the bill rejecting the amendments moved by the opposition parties. Among the four bills passed in Lok Sabha, the Central GST bill deals with the taxation related to Centre, the Union Territory GST bill deals with the taxation in Union Territories and the integrated GST bill deals with the taxation of inter-state movement of goods and services.

After the discussion on the bill in the Rajya Sabha, the Centre may bring back the bills to the Lok Sabha to pass any amendments suggested by the Upper House. Although the bills are termed to be money bills and the government may pass the bill without the Rajya Sabha’s suggestions, the government wants a full debate in Rajya Sabha to stave off the criticisms that the Centre is trying to circumvent Rajya Sabha where it is in minority.

The government is aiming to clear all the bills before April 12, the last day of the Budget session. Under the GST law, there will be four tax slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent and there will also be an additional levy on taxes for items like tobacco products, cars and aerated drinks.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has stated that the prime objective of the GST bill is to have one tax and each assessee with one assessing officer and under the GST law, there will be only one tax rate for one commodity across the country. The government is trying to rollout the GST bill on July 1.