The amended Goods and Service Tax (GST) bill has been taken up in the Lok Sabha today for passage with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley initiating the debate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is speaking the the Lok Sabha on GST Bill debate.
Here are the major highlights:
* GST Constitutional Amendment Bill (122nd): Rajya Sabha amendments put to vote in Lok Sabha
* AIADMK walks out of Lok Sabha during discussion on GST bill
* Finance Minister Arun Jaitley responds to the debate on GST Bill
* You did not have any concerns for the people when you were in the government as there was no cap: Jaitley to Congress
* There was no provision of 18 pc cap in your bill either: Arun Jaitley to Congress in Lok Sabha
* The one which you called a 'flawed bill' was based on the bill drafted during your (UPA) time: FM Jaitley in LS
* PM Modi concludes his speech on GST Bill in Lok Sabha
* Credit goes to each and every member, all political parties, all those who kept on trying: PM Modi in LS
* It is our democracy and maturity of political leaders in India that we have been able to pass GST bill in one voice: PM Modi in LS
* I can proudly and politely say that this government has passed more than 100 bills in this house: PM Modi in Lok Sabha
* GST will remove tradition of kachcha bills: PM Modi
* The 'kacha bill' and 'pakka bill' system in our country has helped mobilise black money. GST will help put an end to this
* There are two types of bills in the market- kachcha bill and pakka bill: PM Modi
* We have to strengthen the system to eradicate corruption, we can not depend on people's goodwill: PM Modi
* GST will help fight corruption: PM Modi
* Biggest strength of GST is technology. Real time data will be available to people: PM in Lok Sabha
* 'Economic development of poor' & 'Educational development of poor' are two ways with which we can build an army of poor that'll fight against poverty itself: PM Modi
* Our focus is on economic and educational empowerment of the poor, so that we can mitigate poverty: PM Modi
* 'Faith' very important to strengthen federal structure of India. GST will act as a catalyst in this regard- PM Modi in LS
* It is true that consumer States will benefit more from GST but Centre will compensate manufacturing States in case of losses: PM Modi in LS
* GST will act as catalyst to help strengthen trust between Centre and States: PM Modi in LS
* Items that decide consumer inflation, such as medicine and food, are kept out of GST: Prime Minister
* All essential goods used by poor people are kept out of GST net: PM
* Eastern states need to develop for overall development of our country. I urge state governments of these states to take full advantage of GST: PM Modi
* States in our country are not self sufficient but are interdependent. GST will boost economy of under developed States: PM Modi in LS
* Consumer and small businesses will gain tremendously. Small business will feel more secure with this. Small business is our strength: PM in LS
* GST will send across a message that 'Consumer is the King': PM Modi in Lok Sabha
* With GST, we intend to bring in uniformity in taxes. The message is clear that the 'consumer is the king': PM Modi
* 'Lok Tantra' is not just a game of mandate, it is also a journey of forming consensus: PM Modi in LS
* Rashtraneeti is bigger than Rajneeti: PM Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha
* Had met both Sonia Gandhi ji and Manmohan Singh ji. One is a LS MP and other RS MP. Question of treating LS as junior house does not arise: PM in LS
* A trust between the Centre and states developed. This was not about a parliamentary majority. This is about consensus: PM Modi
* Lot of flaws have been overcome as far as the GST is concerned: Narendra Modi
* Having been a CM, now it became easier for me to address issues that CMs could have faced with the GST: PM Narendra Modi
* GST means "Great Step by Team India", "Great Step towards Transformation", "Great Steps towards Transparency": Narendra Modi
* Ek moti hum maala mein piro rhe hain jo 'Ek Bharat' ko taakat deta hai: PM Modi in Lok Sabha
* This can't be seen as a victory of a party or government, it is a win for the democratic ethos of India & a victory for everyone: PM Modi
* Ye kis dal ka, sarkar ka vijay nahi hai. Yeh Bharat ke loktantra ka vijay hai, har party ka vijay hai: PM Modi on GST Bill
* Want to thank all parties, state governments. We are taking a decision which RS, LS, States have thought about in great detail: PM Modi in LS
* Today, an important move to free the nation from tax terrorism has begun: PM in Lok Sabha
* Today is 8th August. Under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Quit India movement began: PM Modi
* PM Modi begins his speech with a tribute to 75 years of Quit India Movement
* GST will ensure one tax in the entire country. It will result in seamless transfer of goods and services in the country...This is a major indirect tax reform which will in long run will be in interest of the country: Arun Jaitley
* It is an important legislation and divided Parliament passing the country would not benefit the country: Arun Jaitley
* The Constitutional Amendment Bill is an enabling law. After it is approved by the state assemblies, three more laws-- Central GST, Integrated GST and State GST-- will be drafted by the GST Council: Arun Jaitley
* Simultaneously the GST Council will work on the functional modalities for implementation such that same person is not assessed by both Centre and states: Finance Minister
* Majority of the political parties have come forward in support of the bill. Since it will be implemented by both the Centre and states, it was necessary to build a consensus on it: Arun Jaitley
Implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will reduce tax evasion and improve ease of doing business by engendering a common market throughout the country, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today as he moved the modified constitution amendment bill in the Lok Sabha.
"GST will ensure one tax in the entire country. It will result in seamless transfer of goods and services in the country...This is a major indirect tax reform which will in long run will be in interest of the country," he said, adding Centre has addressed concerns of all the states.
The Lok Sabha, which had already passed the GST Constitution Amendment Bill in May 2015, took it up today again to approve the modifications made in it by the Rajya Sabha last week. The government had moved six official
amendments, including scrapping of 1 per cent additional tax.
On the vexed question of GST rate which may have implications for inflation, Jaitley said it would be decided by the GST council, which will comprise representatives of centre and states.
As regards the issue of states giving up sovereign power to levy taxes, the minister said it is not the case, "states and the Centre will be pooling in their sovereignty together and creating a new mechanism which will take all its decision within that pooled sovereignty."
Appreciating political parties for showing unanimity in passing the bill in the Upper House, he said, "it is an important legislation and divided Parliament passing the country would not benefit the country."
The Minister further said the new tax regime will "check leakages, increase tax base for centre and states, eliminate cascading effect of tax on tax, reduce tax evasion and improve ease of doing business."
Jaitley, while moving the amendments to the GST bill cleared last week by the Rajya Sabha, said the Constitutional Amendment Bill is an enabling law. After it is approved by the state assemblies, three more laws-- Central GST, Integrated GST and State GST-- will be drafted by the GST Council.
While the CGST and IGST will have to passed by Parliament, states will have to pass their SGST law.
"Simultaneously the GST Council will work on the functional modalities for implementation such that same person is not assessed by both Centre and states," Jaitley said.
He said it was the strength of the democracy that the states and opposition parties came on board for passage for the indirect tax reform bill.
"Majority of the political parties have come forward in support of the bill. Since it will be implemented by both the Centre and states, it was necessary to build a consensus on it," the Finance Minister said.
Recalling the history of GST, he said in 2003 the Kelkar committee had suggested that structural changes should be brought about in the indirect tax regime.
After the NDA government came to power in 2014, it started discussions with the states with regard to their concerns on compensation, he said.
While the GST Bill, 2011, did not have a provision for compensation, the NDA government initially provided for compensation to the states fully for 3 years and then for staggered compensation for 2 years.
Since states still had concerns regarding compensation,Jaitley said the Centre decided to fully compensate the states for 5 years.
The GST bill, 2011 said that all decisions of the GST Council will be based on consensus but it did not specify what would consensus mean, Jaitley noted.
Upon the recommendations of the Standing Committee, it was decided that every decision of the GST Council should be passed by three-fourth majority, he added.
The states would have two-third voting right in the GST Council, while the Centre would have one-third vote and hence both Centre and states have to agree to pass a decision.
(With PTI inputs)
