Finance Ministry Arun Jaitley said that it is not possible to implement a single GST slab rate in the diversified country like India because the substantial population in the country are from below poverty line (BPL), so the process of different slab rates under GST will continue in India. Arun Jaitley totally opposed the idea of single GST slab rate in India for all goods. Items such as food products would be applied minimum tax rates whereas luxury items would be charged higher tax rates.
While addressing in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley said that there were some countries across the globe that had applied a single tax rate on all goods. On the flip side, there were some countries where the most of the populations were from above poverty line.
In India, food items are being levied zero tax rate or minimum slab rate whereas luxury items are being levied higher tax rates under the new indirect tax regime.
Previously most of the food items placed had been categorized in the highest slab rate i.e., 28 percent. A few months ago tax rates on some food items had been slashed from 28 percent to 18 percent under GST. Afterwards, the process of rate rationalization will continue in India. Apart from this, depositing returns on the quarterly basis also not possible as the State and Central government had to bear monthly expenses which could be delayed at any cost.
A committee of the five-member group had been formulated by the Council, who headed by AB Pandey which look out the issues related to the return filings and tried to make the GST compliance easier.
“The committee shall recommend changes to be made in the process of filing of GST returns, including the threshold, if any, for quarterly filing”, said Arun Jaitley