INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
States have been pressing for waiver of GST on critical items such as vaccines.Amid a growing chorus over the GST Council meeting not being
convened for over seven months, the Union Finance Ministry on Saturday announced that the next meeting of the panel that decides on taxes on
goods and services will be held on May 28
After over a dozen central and state levies such as excise duty, service tax and VAT were subsumed in a nationwide Goods and Services Tax
(GST) in 2017, the Council, headed by Union Finance Minister and including representatives of all states and union territories, was mandated
to meet every quarter to deliberate on issues at hand.The GST Council last met on October 5, 2020 to finalise contours of borrowings by
states to meet shortfall in tax revenues
The meeting got extended and ended on October 12
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair the 43rd meeting of the GST Council on May 28, her office tweeted
"Smt @nsitharaman will chair the 43rd GST Council meeting via video conferencing at 11 AM in New Delhi on 28th May 2021
The meeting will be attended by MOS Shri @ianuragthakur besides Finance Ministers of States - UTs and Senior officers from Union Government
- States," it said.Opposition party-ruled states have been complaining about not holding the GST Council meeting in recent weeks
West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra earlier this week wrote to Sitharaman seeking urgent convening of the meeting to discuss the issue
of compensation shortfall to states and other pending items
"You are kindly aware that the GST Council was mandated to meet once in every quarter
Unfortunately, this solemn mandate has been violated twice over, by not calling a meeting of the Council for two consecutive quarters - not
even virtually."This has undermined a federal institution, where all states are represented irrespective of political parties, regions or
size of population, along with the Government of India
I fear that not holding meetings regularly also lead to a trust deficit," Mitra wrote
When GST was implemented, states were promised that they will be compensated for any shortfall in tax revenues arising out of their taxes
being subsumed in a national GST, for the first five years
This was to be done by levy of a cess, on top of the GST rate, on certain luxury and sin goods.However, the accumulations in the
compensation kitty had been falling short of what the states were promised to be paid even before the pandemic broke out
And with the second wave of infections that have forced lockdowns in most states and UTs, the collections are way short
