AIMIM chief and MP from Hyderabad Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday criticized the Central Government’s claim that the latest reforms in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) would increase consumption and said that such rhetoric and dialogue in the last decade would not benefit the common man. The AIMIM leader warned that the state governments may collectively face revenue deficit of Rs 8,000-10,000 crore as a result of these changes.
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Talking to the media, Asaduddin Owaisi said that the common man has not benefited from all the rhetoric and dialogues we have seen in the last 11 years. We cannot welcome it because it will have a very bad effect on the revenue and finance of the states and each state will have a revenue loss of 8 to 10 thousand crores. Meanwhile, former Union Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has questioned the delay in the Center’s decision to rationalize GST rates in two slabs. He said that he appreciates the government for “realizing” his mistake after eight years of implementing it on 1 July 2017.
He said that several economists, including the Congress party and former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, had expressed concern about the tax structure when it was first implemented. Talking to reporters in Madurai, Chidambaram said, “I appreciate the government for realizing my mistake after eight years. Eight years ago, when this law was implemented, it was wrong. At that time, we advised not to do so. The then Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian also advised that it was a mistake.”
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Thanking the NDA government for realizing its mistakes, Chidambaram criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers that he ignored the Congress arguments about the shortcomings of GST. GST was implemented in India on 1 July 2017 and replaced the previous indirect taxes under the 101st Constitution Amendment Act, 2016. There were many slabs including early, integrated tax structure including 0%, 5%, 12%, 18%and 28%, which applied on the basis of their imperative and luxury status on various objects and services.