Gujarat - State govt raises objection to Goods and Services Tax  

Raising objections to the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST), to be implemented from April next year, the Gujarat government has said that some important issues should be addressed first with a wide discussion on the issue with all stake holders.

Gujarat Minister of State for Finance Saurabh Patel has written to his West Bengal counterpart and the chairman of the empowered group of state finance ministers, Asim Dasgupta, stating the reasons why the proposed tax should not be implemented in haste.

According to Patel, two issues remain to be addressed. “There is still no clarity about subsumation of cesses/surcharges levied by the Centre and all these cesses and surcharges should be subsumed in GST,” the letter said. Another issue pertains to purchase tax and destination-based tax structure. Exports of taxes cannot be allowed, and therefore, this tax should also be subsumed in GST and made completely “vatable”, it said.

Source : Indian Express,  dated 08/10/2009