Direct Tax To GDP Ratio Has Risen In India Said Anurag Thakur In Parliament

The GST Council meeting took place on 21st June on Friday. This was the first meeting that had taken place under new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and MOS, Finance Anurag Thakur.

As many speculations were made that government will might think of slashing taxes in the various bracket and will ease certain rules under GST. However, the GST council failed to make business and trader community happier. All speculations about tax cut proved wrong. But the council took certain steps like extending the dates for GST return filing etc.

But in Lok Sabha on 24th June in a reply to Varun Gandhi’s question MOS Finance, Anurag Thakur said that the GST council would consider reducing the tax on the electric vehicle, which are very eco-friendly. There is an expectation that the council would reduce the GST tax on electric vehicle from 12 per cent to 5 per cent.

In a reply to this question, Anurag Thakur said that 21 lakh returns were filed in one day, last year. He said that this proves that the new tax regime is much better in comparison to the past. There were many glitches and loopholes that are removed with the passage of time. In a written reply to the parliament, MOS Finance Anurag Thakur also mentioned that the direct tax to GDP ratio has risen to 5.98 per cent from 5.86 per cent.

The tax collection in April and May has increased by over 8.5% in comparison to the same period last year. The GST council did several meetings and introduced certain changes. But after 35th GST council meeting there are four main decisions taken. In particular, the council made Aadhaar card a sufficient proof to get GST registration. And second important decision taken by the council is to extend the tenure of the National Anti-Profiteering Authority by two years till November 2021. The council also extended the date of filing GST returns for FY18 by two months to August-end. And last important decision by the council was to increase the amount of penalty imposed on the profiteering companies from Rs 25000 to an additional 10 per cent of the profiteered amount.

The decisions taken by the council could not meet the expectations of traders and consumers too and the council ended up introducing a few changes in order to curb tax evasion and make GST filing simpler. Now, all are looking up to new FM that what all she has in store for business and trader class in the budget that is going to be presented on 5th of July.