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A
consensus to this effect emerged at the three-hour long
meeting of the ECSFM held here.
The meeting, which discussed on various issues relating
to proposed introduction of GST, was also attended by
senior officials of the finance ministry. While
admitting that there were divergences of views among
states on introduction of the proposed GST, Dasgupta
said “after prolonged discussions we have narrowed down
differences and agreed for two tier- GST at the state
level.”
Dasgupta said “expression of reservations over various
aspects of GST has not been party-centric. Some like
Karnataka and Gujarat are quite supportive of GST. All I
can say is that differences have been narrowed down.”
Compensation for loss
Some of
the North Eastern states as well as states belonging to
special category wanted the Centre to compensate them in
case they incurred revenue loss by switching over to GST.
“In principle the Centre has indicated some kind of
mechanism can be evolved for compensating states,” he
said.
Asked whether the Centre would also have two-tier GST as
envisaged by states, Dasgupta indicated that the GST at
the central level would have a “good deal of conformity”
with state level GST. GST proposes to replace Central
Excise duty and Service Tax at central and Value Added
Tax (VAT) at state level.
Source
: Deccan Herald, India, dated 16/09/2009
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