PORVORIM: The State Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed the Goa Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017 (GST), the implementation of which, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said, would be a ‘boon’ for a tourist State like Goa. The GST would be implemented from July 1, the uniform tax regime is expected to bring in additional revenue to the tune of Rs 600-1000 crore to the State exchequer.
“I am very lucky to be part of Parliament, when GST Bill was passed and now again today, when Goa Assembly is passing it,” Parrikar, former Union Defence Minister said.
Parrikar informed the House that with the introduction of GST, taxes like luxury tax, entertainment tax, additional custom duties, excise duties, Value Added Tax, Central Sales Tax, would be things of the past. “The absence of same will result in a loss of Rs 700-800 crore,” he said adding, “but with the jump in excise and service tax, we aim to gain additional revenue of Rs 600-1000 crore, in the first year of GST itself.”
He said that currently the State’s share from excise and service tax stood at Rs 13,800 crore for the last financial year and the same is going to go up by another Rs 1200 crore with GST. “Ultimately, Goa will be net gainer since Goa is a consumer State, where consumption is above the national average,” Chief Minister stated.
With petroleum products excluded from GST, the State government is planning to work out ways to introduce the same under Goa GST as it is losing out a revenue of around Rs 350 crore.
Parrikar said that there would be initial hiccups in the implementation of GST and even after it is introduced, but at the later stage it will be a boon for Goa. “Especially because, Goa is a touristic State,” he explained.
He said that so far, the State’s taxation has been reasonable or less compared to rest of the country. “But now with GST, the entire country will have a common tax regime,” he said.
Responding to the concerns raised by the opposition about the kind of implications the State may face with GST introduction, the Chief Minister said that implementation of new tax regime would not have much impact on the tax collections.
“Goa will not face any major loss after implementation of GST. Even if we suffer the losses, the Union government will compensate for it,” he said.
Stating that there would be extensive awareness on the GST across the State, the Chief Minister said that of the 23,000 registered traders, 18,000 have got themselves enrolled with GST. He said that the government will hold extensive training programme for small traders in June.
The Chief Minister also announced to hold special camps for traders from May 15 to 22, while on May 23 another camp would be held to educate MLAs.
Earlier, the Congress party, that supported the GST bill, sought to know its benefit to the State and if there are going to be any implications. “We are supporting the bill, as it was an idea initially mooted by then UPA government under Manmohan Singh. But government needs to be cautious about its implications,” Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant Kavalekar said.
Congress MLA Digambar Kamat said, “There will be teething problems in implementing this new tax but it is going to be a revolutionary movement for the State.” He was supported by his colleague Luizinho Faleiro who said that the basic purpose of GST should not be lost while undertaking its implementation.
