Congress shows support for GST Bill

A day after the Cabinet decided to drop the 1% additional tax on inter-state sales as proposed in the Goods and Service Tax (GST) bill, Congress has indicated its acceptance of government proposal, Zee Business reports.

On Thursday, Rajeev Shukla, Secretary of the All India Congress Committee, said that out of all three demands government has accepted 1% additional tax and compensating revenue loss for five years fully. 

Shukla said that on the cap issue discussions are on. He said that the government has proposed not to include a cap in the constitutional bill, the party agrees but the rate has to be decided. 

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers to discuss some of the demands of the States for the passage of GST Bill. 

The cap on the GST was something that the Congress Party has been pushing for, however many of the other opposition parties have not been so keen on it. 

The state finance ministers also said that the GST rate should not be so much that the State loses revenues. 

Yesterday, ZeeBiz had reported that the cabinet has accepted to raise foreign direct investment (FDI) limit to 15% from 5 % in stock or commodity exchanges.