GST Council's 31st meeting on Dec 22 may reduce tax on cement

The upcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting is likely to rationalise the 28% slab by cutting tax rates on construction items, like cement, said a Zee Business channel report citing sources in the Finance Ministry. The meeting, slated on December 22, may rationalise tax on cement from 28% to 18%.

The channel reported that the finance ministry is however reviewing the impact it will have on the government's revenue. Notably, in the highest slab of 28% there are merely 35 items are left which mainly comprise luxury and sin products. 

The meeting will be chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is expected to discusses the inclusion of Petrol and Diesel in the GST items, say other reports.

The meeting may also deliberate over the reports submitted by the sub-committees formed to analyse GST on Sugar, Cess in case of exigencies.

Meanwhile, the 30th GST council meeting, which was held on 28th September 2018, had mainly discussed the administerial progress made in the newly-evolved tax system. It, however, discussed the necessity to levy cess in case of exigencies. 

The 30th GST council meeting was chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley via video conferencing.

The meeting had proposed formation of a seven-member Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into several issues and submit a report in this regard by 31st October 2018.