GST bill - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: 111

Explanation:
President Pranab Mukherjee on 8th September 2016 provided assent to the Constitution 122nd Amendment GST bill 2014 as per Article 111 of the Constitution of India.

• Following this assent, the bill was changed into a law and permits rolling out a new indirect tax regime
• Following the Presidential assent, bill will be notified to the GST Council that will decide the tax rate, cess and surcharges
• Council is to be headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprised State Finance Ministers
• Union and state governments will have to draft the Central GST, state and Integrated GST laws for being passed in the winter session of the Parliament.
• CGST and IGST will be drafted on the basis of model GST law
• States will also draw their respective SGST laws with minor variation incorporating State based exemptions. IGST law will deal with inter state movement of goods and services
• GST is a single, indirect tax that will subsume most of the Central and State taxes such as Value Added Tax, excise and service tax, central sales tax, additional customs duty and special additional duty of customs
• Bill was passed by both houses of the Parliament in August 2016 and ratified by 19 states
• The bill needed ratification by legislative assemblies of at least 50 percent of the states.
• The first state to ratify the Bill was Assam. Other states which followed included Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, HP, Gujarat, MP, Delhi, Nagaland, Maharashtra, Haryana, Sikkim, Mizoram, Telangana, Goa, Odisha, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh

ANSWER: Sikkim

Explanation:
Eleven states -- Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Nagaland, have already ratified the Bill.

• Sikkim Assembly ratified the GST Bill as a Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST.
• The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 on GST was passed by Parliament recently and it needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before
• The President can notify the GST Council which will decide the new tax rate and other issues. The government has set April 1, 2017 as target for rolling out GST, considered as the biggest tax reform.
• Meanwhile, Mizoram Assembly ratifies GST Mizoram Assembly today ratified the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment bill by adopting an official resolution, becoming 13th state to have approved the legislation.
• The state legislature unanimously adopted the official resolution moved by Finance and Taxation Minister Lalsawta after deliberations on the first day of the Assembly.
• Telangana Legislature ratifies GST Bill The Telangana Legislature on 30th August unanimously ratified the Goods and Services Tax Constitutional Amendment Bill, becoming 14th state to have approved the legislation that will pave the way for roll-out of a single and unified tax system in the country.
• While manufactured consumer goods will become cheaper as the incidence of excise duty and VAT will come down from 25-26 per cent at present, the cost of services would by and large, go up from the present 15 per cent levy.
• The Constitution Amendment Bill passed by Parliament needs to be ratified by more than half of the total states before it could be sent for Presidential assent.
• So far, 12 states have ratified the Bill.

ANSWER: Eighth

Explanation:

• It became the second NE state and the eighth state in India to ratify the Bill
• The first state to ratify the GST bill was also from NE (Assam)
• Bihar was the first non NDA ruled state to ratify the GST Bill
• HP was the first Congress run state to ratify the bill
• Other states which ratified the Bill include Chattisgarh, MP and Jharkhand.
• Delhi has also ratified the GST Bill in the capacity of a state
• The ratification by the Delhi State Assembly is the first official acknowledgement of Delhi as a state
• Nagaland Legislative Assembly endorsed the Bill by voice cote following a brief discussion
• Introducing the Bill, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiyanillie Peseiya said the revenue of the state would go up as tax evasion would be checked on account of transparency and broadening of the tax base.
• A purely consuming state like Nagaland would benefit even more since GST is based on the destination principle.
• Tax administration would improve since most of the activity would be online
• Nagaland CM TR Zeliang had earlier made the announcement about the special session of passing the bill

ANSWER: MP

Explanation:
Madhya Pradesh Assembly ratifies the GST Bill becoming the 7th state to do so. On 24th August 2016, the 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax was unanimously ratified by the state.

• CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed it as a process towards economic integration of the nation
• The bill was tabled by law and legislative affairs minister Rampal Singh
• On 25th August 2016, Delhi Legislative Assembly passed a resolution to ratify the Constitution 122nd Amendment Bill or the GST Tax Bill
• GST Bill has for the first time recognised Delhi as a state under the new Constitutional Amendment to Article 366
• Delhi HC on August 4 had held that Delhi continues to be a UT under the control of the Lt. Governor
• However AAP leader Manish Sisodia said tax threshold for Value Added Tax is INR 20 lakh
• Businesses making INR 85,000 to 1,00,000 don’t require registration
• If the threshold were reduced to INR 10 lakh small businesses could be burdened so the threshold should be made INR 25 lakhs
• For the past 17 years, Delhi has been getting INR 325 crore in central tax share despite contribution of INR 137000 crore to the GDP of the country.
• Other states passing the GST bill include Bihar and HP.
• Bihar is the first non NDA ruled state to pass the Bill
• HP is the first INC ruled state to pass the Bill
• Chattisgarh has also passed the GST Bill as has Jharkhand
• Assam was the first NE state and the first Indian state to pass the GST bill

ANSWER: HP

Explanation:
Himachal Pradesh is the fourth state after Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand to ratify the GST Bill.

• HP Assembly on 22nd August 2016 ratified the GST bill unanimously.
• Bill was introduced by CM Virbhadra Singh and passed by voice vote.
• GST Bill was basically brought by the UPA government, the HP CM said, calling it the single biggest tax reform which will help in trade, services and commerce.
• Chattisgarh state assembly also unanimously ratified the GST Bill during a special one day session on the same date.
• Chattisgarh became the fifth state to ratify Constitution 122 Amendment GST Bill after Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and HP.
• Sixteen various types of taxes have now been tabled into a simple taxation system.
• GST Bill was earlier passed by LS and RS and requires a specific number of states to ratify it before it becomes a law.

ANSWER: Assam

Explanation:
The Assam Assembly on 12th August 2016 passed a resolution to become the first state to ratify the Constitution (122nd Amendment) GST Bill 2014.

• The bill was passed by the LS on 8th August 2016 and RS on 3rd August 2016.
• The GST will have two components keeping the federal structure of India in mind- the Central GST and the State GST.
• For goods and services that pass through several states or imports, the Centre will levy the Integrated GST.
• Alcohol for human consumption or liquor has been kept out of the ambit of GST.
• GST Bill empowers the centre to impose additional tax of up to 1 percent on interstate supply of goods for two years or more- tax will accrue to states from where the supply originates.
• GST will not apply to petroleum crude initially or high speed diesel, motor spirit (petrol), natural gas and aviation turbine fuel and GST council will decide when GST will be levied for these.
• Tobacco and tobacco products will be subject to GST and centre may impose excise duty on tobacco.
• Compensation may be provided to states for revenue losses stemming from implementation of GST for 5 years based on the recommendations of the GST Council.