Jaitley seeks support from MPs/MLAs to create GST awareness

 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today sought support from members of Parliament and state legislatures to create mass awareness about the Goods and Services Tax that is scheduled to be rolled out from July 1.

In a letter to the presidents of various political parties, Jaitley thanked them for their cooperation and contribution in making the GST a reality.

He underscored the role Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) can play in creating mass awareness about the new tax law.

"It is important for them to understand the finer points of the new tax regime in order to explain the same to the people. If trade and industry face any difficulty during the implementation phase, the representatives of the people should be better equipped to handle the same if properly trained in this regard," Jaitley said.

Stating that GST is the most important tax reform since independence, he said it is going to make doing business substantially easy and promote new investment and contribute to the overall GDP growth.

"GST will also help in removing the cascading effect of taxation and give relief to the common man by leading to reduction in prices, especially of essential consumer goods," Jaitley said.

He said that with the cooperation of all the political parties, the Constitutional Amendment Act for GST was passed by Parliament. Besides, three laws -- CGST, IGST and UTGST -- have already been passed by Parliament while the SGST law has been passed by the 25 state legislatures.

The GST Council, chaired by Jaitley and having state representatives as members, met 15 times since September 2016 and have approved all the draft laws and rules and GST rates for all the commodities.

In his letter, Jaitley also requested the different political parties to consider organising workshops and training sessions for all the MPs/MLAs of their respective party for which the Union Government can provide expert resource personnel.

He asked them to contact his office or the office of the Revenue Secretary, Hasmukh Adhia, for further assistance.

GST will unify 16 different taxes, including excise, service tax and VAT, and make India a common market for seamless movement of goods and services.