Shillong, September 09: Meghalaya Assembly ratified the Goods and Services Constitution Amendment Bill. Law Minister Roshan Warjri moved the government resolution for ratification of the bill. As no one opposed it, Speaker A T Mondal declared that the House approved and adopted the government resolution for ratification of the Bill.
After ratifying GST, Taxation Minister Zenith Sangma said this will reduce the casketing effect on Taxes. GST is one indirect tax for the whole nation, which will make India one unified common market. It is a single tax on the supply of goods and services, right from the manufacturer to the consumer.
Stating that GST will benefit Meghalaya, the Minister said state are looking at 18 percent to be the Revenue Neutral Rate could largely reduce the incidence of tax and consuming state like Meghalaya will be benefitted a lot.
The Centre agreeing to compensate states for revenue loss for five years if there is any after the implementation of the GST. Meanwhile, Meghalaya Government has fixed the threshold limit to 5 lakhs in the state. Interestingly, of all the commodities, the GST council has kept petroleum Product and alcohol outside the ambit of GST.
Later Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma also expressed his happiness. The Rajya Sabha has recently passed The Constitution (122nd Amendment) (GST) Bill, 2014 to introduce the goods and services tax (GST). With the passage of bill, India took giant step in structural indirect taxation reform and paved way for the concept of one nation, one tax. Earlier the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha in May 2015.
However, now the Bill will again go back to the Lok Sabha to incorporate the few amendments approved by the Rajya Sabha. The Constitution (122nd Amendment) (GST) Bill, 2014 will enter into the statute book as The Constitution (101st Amendment) Bill, 2016. April 1, 2017, deadline to set to roll out the goods and services tax (GST). With this Meghalaya became the 17th and the second Congress-ruled state after Himachal Pradesh to ratify the GST Bill.
