India has been regarded as a country with heavy burden of multiple taxes on consumers and people in general. The worst sufferers of this taxation policy are the poor and downtrodden as well as the salaried people. It is the salaried people who are badly hit by direct tax on their income. As one economist has rightly pointed out that the salaried people who constitute 3% of the total population of the country are honest in paying taxes who have nothing to hide. GST (Goods and Service Tax) which is being now introduced in the country with some states still to come forward for its approval. Once all the states fall in line, there will be uniformity in taxation policy on goods and services. It will also abolish imposition of taxes in different states in different forms.

Dr Sumit Dutt Majumder, former chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs, author, columnist and GST expert, in an interactive workshop on goods and service tax with trade and industry representatives of this town, at a community hall at Circuit House Road on Friday, was all appreciative of the GST approved by the Parliament. He however cautioned like demonetization, the Centre should not take hasty steps in the implementation of GST. He hoped the Central Government must have realized the various lacunaes in the hurried implementation. He expected there should be full preparation and arrangement for GST before it is implemented.

Dr Sumit Dutt Majumder said GST is now more or less a reality which from all practical practices should go come into force from September 2017. Even the Central Government has realized it and many aspects of it are being examined to bring it into operation. According to him, economically weaker states will be benefitted more as Central Goods and Services Taxes as well as State Goods and Services Taxes will be in one fold. He advised businessmen and traders to get acquainted will all the intricacies and technicalities of GST for which separate portal is being designed.

The GST expert was hopeful that India would become a model before other countries to have a composite taxation system. This is going to herald a new era of good days and he prices of all commodities will come down, much to the relief of all sections of people. Others who took part in the interactive workshop included R K Barman, DC Sales Tax, S C Biswas, Central Excise and Income Tax, and P L Sinha, Director of Revenue Intelligence. The workshop was organized by Central Excise and Service Tax Division, Silchar.

It is pertinent to know all about the GST as explained by the experts. In fact, GST will roll into one central indirect taxes and also state levies. These taxes to be punched together include central excise duty and service tax as well state imposed VAT, octroi, entry tax among others. Multiple taxes at varied rates paid at different points stand dissolved. Ultimately, the consumer will benefit as he will pay only to the last dealer in the long chain of the supply.

In order however to boost the revenue generation of the states, certain consumer items like petroleum products, alcohol and tobacco have not been covered under GST. It is apparent that there will be two types of levies, one by the Centre and the other by states. In the event of inter-state trade or commerce, the Centre will levy and collect GST on supplies. The Centre and the States will get shares of the tax to be decided by the Parliament on the basis of the recommendations of the GST Council.

The Council comprises Union Finance Minister as chairman, union minister of state for finance and finance minister of each state. There is also the provision of 1% additional tax on interstate trade in goods to be levied by the Centre. The collected revenue envisages compensation to the states for two years or as recommended by the GST Council for losses resulting from implementation of GST. According to the latest information from New Delhi, the all powerful GST Council made a reasonable headway on supporting legislations for the new indirect tax regime.