Lok Sabha to take up GST bills for discussion today

The Lok Sabha will today take up the Goods and Services Tax Bills for discussion and passage. The Speaker has allocated eight hours time for discussion on the Bill. 

Briefing media after the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting in New Delhi yesterday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said that the discussion on the four GST bills namely Central GST, Integrated GST, Union Territory GST and GST Compensation Bills will take place in the Lower House today. He said these Bills have been drafted after detailed discussions in the GST Council which comprises all States. 

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday said the GST bills are based on the principle of shared sovereignty and that the government wants to pass these landmark tax reforms through consensus. The Finance Minister had tabled the GST Bills in the Lok Sabha on Monday. He also briefed the BJP Members of Parliament after



the Party' Parliamentary meeting yesterday. The Finance Minister had tabled these four GST Bills in the Lok Sabha on Monday. 

The Central GST Bill makes provisions for levy and collection of tax on intra-state supply of goods or services, the integrated GST deals in taxation of inter-state movement of goods and services while the Union Territory GST Bill covers taxation in Union Territories.The compensation bill has been drafted to give a legislative backing to the Centre's promise to compensate the states for five years for any revenue loss arising out of GST implementation. 

Once these Bills are cleared by Parliament, the states will then take up the State GST Bill in their Assemblies. The Government has set a target of first July as the date for rolling out of the Goods and Services Tax, which will subsume Excise, Service Tax, VAT and other local levies.