The former finance minister P Chidambaram has finally shared some views regarding the implementation date of Goods and service tax in India, as he said that October 1 will be the suitable date for the implementation of the new tax regime as the minister called it as a realistic deadline as of now due to the various factors prevailing in the market. He also mentioned the after effects of this new reformative tax system and said that it may bring a short-term inflation in the market and also supported it with the hopes of positivity that it will bring good to the country.
As asked at the press conference, he said directly that, “July 1 may not be a practical deadline for GST rollout. Instead, October 1 may be a more realistic deadline.” He also gave the reason behind the October roll out, and added that there is an enormous amount of companies ranging from small to medium scale enterprises which need extra time to become a part of the tax regime while he also pointed out the GST network and asked it to run it for trial and activating the platform also demands some time. For all these factors, the October seems feasible to the minister and carried out on other topics of economic significance.
He was assured that GST will be improving the tax collection after its implementation and will also nab the tax evasion from the parties which used old methods to evade the taxes. Also, he concerned about the opposition demands for some amendments to the GST bill. He said that “We had pointed out that they were imperfect bills and no attempt was made to make them less imperfect. The Rajya Sabha could have improved the bills, but that opportunity was denied when the government stubbornly turned down the demand that the bills be introduced, debated and passed as non-money bills.”
