Get ready to pay more for this bad habit; price hike likely today

The 30th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will be held in Delhi today to discuss multiple proposals to help flood-hit Kerala recoup revenue losses. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will chair the meet through Video Conferencing. 
 
According to reports, the government bid is to mobilise additional resources to meet the cost of rehabilitation and reconstruction of Kerala, which was severely hit by the flood fury. 
         
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac had earlier met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, demanding a 10 per cent cess on State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) on all commodities consumed in the state. The proceeds would be utilised to rebuild the flood-hit state. 
 
The Centre proposed a nationwide one per cent cess on all sin goods instead of a cess limited to Kerala, and it would reportedly be levied for a period up to three months across all states. This cess will reportedly be different from the national calamity cess.

According to sources, the council is likely to propose an additional cess on sin products like cigarettes for Kerala fund. This may increase the prices of cigarettes. This apprehension was expressed in the report by investment firm CLSA that the council may impose a ‘disaster cess’. 

The GST Council's another agenda is reportedly to discuss persistently low revenue collection by all states and union territories as they have started to show declining trend.  A CNBC TV18 report said that Puducherry and Punjab posted the highest revenue deficit of 42 percent and 32 percent respectively.
 
Watch this Zee Business video

In its earlier meeting, the GST Council had approved a proposal to extend cash back offer to poor sections of society if they make digital payments through Rupay Debit card, BHIM, Aadhaar, UPI and USSD.