JOIN USUnion Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said those opposing the implementation of GST in Jammu and Kashmir are against the interests of people of the state.
“If anybody says GST should not be there in my state, then he is effectively saying consumers in my state should buy expensive products. If the GST isn’t introduced in the state, consumers will have to pay double tax. First, they have to pay tax on inputs and then on final products as in the absence of the GST they won’t get the input credit,” Jaitley told reporters, while addressing a press conference after the conclusion of two-day meeting on GST Council in Srinagar.
However, he said, Jammu and Kashmir is fully competent to bring its own law on Goods and Services Tax (GST) under the state’s existing constitutional position.
“Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has the complete right to implement GST in the state. It is for Jammu and Kashmir and its Assembly to decide what they want to do (on GST implementation). I am sure the state will take an appropriate decision,” the minister said.
Jaitley maintained that “implementation of the law will hugely benefit the state government as well as consumers in the state”.
For the first time, New Delhi has spelled out its stand on implementation of GST in the state, which enjoys a special status and has autonomy to tax services unlike other states, .
On Thursday, state Finance Minister Hasseb A Drabu said Jammu and Kashmir will hold a special Assembly session within 30 days to make changes that are needed before GST is implemented in the state.
On Friday, Drabu while terming the GST Council as India’s first federal institution, said the new tax regime will pave way for cooperative federalism in the country.