(MENAFN- KNN India) Former Finance Minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram, speaking in the Rajya Sabha on the Goods and Services Tax Bill (GST), said that the Congress party was never opposed to the idea of GST.
Chidambaram said that the country is now ready to adopt the idea of GST.
Chidambaram said, 'Just as 2011 GST bill was opposed, similarly 2014 bill was opposed and not the idea of having one.”
Emphasizing that there can never be a perfect Bill, he said, there are certain parts of the bill which can be corrected.
The Former FM said the rationale of GST is to avoid multiplicity of taxes, thus the idea of inter-state tax rate had to be removed.
Chidambaram pointed that the GST in its current problem is not an ideal Bill and there are still many issues that need to be resolved.
"It suffers from clumsy drafting," he said.
He, however, thanked the government for dropping the 1 percent additional tax proposal.
Stating that the heart of the GST is what the rate of tax will be, Chidambaram said the GST rate should not be changed by the whim of the executive but by approval of Parliament.
He strongly said that the standard GST rate should not exceed 18%. A high rate will lead to inflation, tax evasion and an imperfect tax system," says the former FM.
Chidambaram insisted on mentioning GST rate of 18% in GST Bill, if not in Constitutional Amendment Bill.
"Tomorrow when the rate comes, the standard rate should not be more than 18 percent. (If it is more) we will campaign against it throughout the country," Chidambaram said seeking an assurance from the FM that the GST Bill will not be passed as a Money Bill.