GST: States seek exclusive control over small traders
No state is ready to yield administrative control over traders who have an annual revenue threshold of less than Rs1.5 crore
New Delhi: A deadlock over sharing of administrative powers in the proposed goods and services tax (GST) regime continued on Friday, with the states refusing to budge on their demand for exclusive control over small traders.
So far, not one state is ready to yield administrative control over traders who have an annual revenue threshold of less than ₹ 1.5 crore, said a person familiar with the development.
On the second and final day of a GST Council meeting, the Centre and states were trying to thrash out an agreement on this contentious issue that has seen many alternatives being discussed, accepted and then later rejected.
West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra, chairman of the empowered group of state finance ministers, has been at the forefront of this battle for protecting the interest of the states.
He has been vocal in his demand for keeping small traders under the states’ fold to ensure that they do not have to deal with both the central and the state tax authorities, the person cited above said.
In a scathing letter to the Central government, Mitra accused the government of concealing data on service tax payers. He questioned how the service tax payer base could increase threefold from 1.1 million to over 3 million in the space of two meetings of the GST Council, Mint reported on 2 November. (read here: )
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