GST council slashes rates of 33 items from 18 percent to lower slabs

On Saturday, The Goods & Services Tax (GST) Council cut rates of 33 items from 18 percent to 12 percent and 5 percent, news agency ANI quoted V Narayanasamy, Puducherry Chief Minister as saying. Apparently, to simplify the indirect tax regime, the government moved goods to a reduced GST rate. Only the sins goods and the luxury items will remain in the 28 percent slab now, as reported by ANI. In the next GST council meet, GST on real estate will be discussed.

V Narayanasamy, Puducherry Chief Minister on GST Council meet in Delhi: 33 items have come down from 18% to 12% & 5% as they are common man’s consumption goods. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/fs6MqhFJDb

— ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2018

Earlier this week the government had said that 99% of items can be moved under 18 per cent GST.

Uttarakhand finance minister Prakash Pant said, “22 goods have come down from 28%. Goods like TV, auto parts, computers etc included. Only the luxury & sins goods items remain in the 28% slab. GST on real estate will be discussed in the next GST Council meeting.”

Notably, GST the government’s biggest tax reform, sets rates from 28 percent to 5 percent on most items, replacing an array of central and state duties.

Delhi: 31st GST Council meeting underway at Vigyan Bhavan under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley pic.twitter.com/j7T2sbffmF

— ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2018

According to reports, the GST Council meeting is being held against the backdrop of lower than budgeted collection so far. Topics such as ‘ways to increase collection and stop tax evasion’will also be discussed by the council today. In the present scenario, the biggest problem could be to announce rate cut given the collection shortfall.

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