Delhi’s deputy chief minister and minister of finance, Manish Sisodia, on February 9, 2017, said that keeping land and real estate outside the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and a higher taxation slab for consumer durables, would kill its basic purpose.

Addressing the ‘National GST Conclave: One Nation One Tax-Pivotal Tax Reforms’, organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sisodia said dual control of GST also defeated its intended objectives and sought more intense consultations on the issue in future GST Council meetings, arguing that the objective of the GST should be consumer and trader-oriented and it should not entirely aim at raising taxation with higher rates.

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Somehow, there couldn’t be an absolute consensus on the inclusion of land and real estate within the ambit of GST, at number of GST Council meetings of all the states finance ministers, he lamented. “Consumer durables such as televisions, mobiles, electric appliances and a host of similar such articles, should not be taxed luxuriously. That is our view and we will continue to articulate them whenever necessary, although the GST tax rates have yet to be finalised,” he said.

Najib Shah, chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), asked the industry not to keep seeking exemptions under the GST regime, as most of these exemptions would go away, after it is put in place. Shah also clarified that the anti-profiteering clause in the GST law is there as an enabler and the industry should not read too much on it, promising that post GST, a host of indirect taxes would be subsumed in it, making the new law user friendly, a PHD Chamber statement said.

By: Housing.com/news