(N.P)
The GST council headed by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will meet on December 31, a day after she meets her states counterparts for pre-budget consultations.
The council is expected to discuss the report of the group of states finance ministers on rate rationalisation, which will be submitted during the meeting. It is also likely to discuss correction in duty inversion in certain commodities, official sources said.
The panel has reviewed items under an inverted duty structure to help minimise refund payout.
The fitment committee, comprising of tax officers from states and the Centre, has made many “sweeping” recommendations to the finance ministers’ panel regarding the slab and rate changes and bringing several items out of the exemption list.
Currently, GST is a four-tier slab structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. Essential items are either exempted or taxed at the lowest slab, while luxury and demerit items attract the highest slab. On the top of the highest slab, a cess is levied on luxury and demerit goods.
There have been demands for merging the 12 and 18 per cent slabs and also for taking out certain items from the exempt category to balance the impact of slab rationalisation on revenue.
West Bengal’s former finance minister Amit Mitra has urged the Union finance minister to roll back a proposed hike in textile from 5 per cent to 12 per cent saying this would lead to closure of around one lakh textile units and 15 lakh job losses.
Telangana industries minister K T Rama Rao has also urged the Centre to withdraw its proposed plan to increase GST rates.
Even industry bodies have opposed the rise in tax from five per cent, citing higher compliance cost especially for the unorganised sector and micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) besides making the poor man’s clothing expensive
