To criticism that the GST was 'hurriedly implemented', the PM said the government had been responsive, with issues identified and redressed in real time.
Prime
Minister (PM) Narendra
Modi on Sunday ruled out a single slab for the goods and services
tax (GST), stating that milk and the Mercedes could not have the same
rate.
The
GST regime was rolled out on July 1 last year. The central government
on Sunday marked its first anniversary with an event in New Delhi,
while Modi took to social media to showcase its advantages.
In
an interview to Swarajya, a news website, Modi responded to criticism
of his government’s version of the GST. He ruled out a single tax
slab, pointed at the gains of the past one year, and admitted to
teething troubles having plagued the regime in its first year.
To
the Congress party’s criticism that there should be a single tax
rate, he said: “It would have been very simple to have just one
slab but it would have meant we could not have food items at 0 per
cent tax rate. Can we have milk and Mercedes at the same rate?”
“So,
when our friends in the Congress say that they will have just one GST
rate, they are effectively saying they will tax food items and
commodities, which are currently at 0 or 5 per cent, at 18 per cent,”
Modi said.
To
criticism that the GST
was “hurriedly implemented”, the PM said the government had been
responsive, with issues identified and redressed in real time.
The
PM did not rule out the possibility that tax rates could come down
further on some items. He said the government had reduced taxes on
nearly 400 groups of items, and around 150 groups have a 0 per cent
tax rate.
Modi
also responded to the Opposition’s charge that the GST was
“anti-people” by sharing on Twitter and the NaMo app the
advantages the tax reform had brought for the common people. With the
assembly elections scheduled in three key North Indian states in the
next five months, and the Lok Sabha elections due in less than nine
months, the PM tweeted that “decreasing prices”, because of the
GST, were “helping poor and middle class”.
He
also reached out to small businesses, a key support base of the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and said the tax reform had provided
“increasing opportunities for small and medium entrepreneurs”.
With the hashtag “GST for New India”, the PM tweeted that the GST
had brought growth, simplicity, and transparency. He said it had
boosted formalisation, enhanced productivity, and furthered “ease
of doing business”.
