New Delhi, August 30(HS):

Ahead of the GST Council meeting scheduled for September 3-4 and following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcements on GST reforms from the Red Fort, the Congress party has called for a significant rationalization of GST slabs. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh, speaking to Ex-Post on Saturday, demanded that the number of GST slabs be reduced from four to two, and urged simplification of procedures for the MSME sector.

Ramesh claimed that eight opposition-ruled states—Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Jharkhand—have broadly supported proposals to reduce GST rates and compress the slabs, alongside additional demands. These include establishing mechanisms to ensure that tax cuts directly benefit consumers, provision of compensation to states for the next five years with 2024-25 as the base year to offset revenue losses, and levying over 40% additional tax on luxury and sin goods with full revenue sharing to states. Currently, revenue from such cesses collected by the central government is not shared with states.

Ramesh noted that these demands are supported by research papers from the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy under the Finance Ministry and align with the long-standing call for a more streamlined, transparent GST framework known as ‘GST 2.0.’ He emphasized that the forthcoming GST Council session must transcend formality and strongly safeguard the interests of all states.

This development underscores the mounting political and fiscal stakes surrounding GST reforms as India seeks a more equitable and efficient indirect tax regime.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar