States Not Willing To Compromise On Cross Empowerment, Says Kerala FM
GST laws will not get passed in the ongoing winter session if states do not agree.
On day 2 of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council meeting, Kerala’s Finance Minister Thomas Issac said states are not willing to compromise on the division of administrative powers over tax assesses between the states and the Centre.
In the first half of today's meeting, the Council looked into laws which do not deal with the cross empowerment issue and will take up the latter for discussion in the second half of the meeting.
If the there is no consensus on division of tax assesses between states and the Centre today, the GST laws will not get passed in the ongoing winter session of Parliament, Issac said.
The GST Council also discussed the impact of demonetisation on states’ revenue, and will discuss that too in the last 30 minutes of today's meeting, Issac told reporters.
"Tax collection can be 50 percent lower this month as there is no business in Delhi markets. If so, it would be hard to pay salaries of government employees. Same concern being expressed by many state Finance Ministers in GST Council meet in presence of the Union Finance Minister," Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said in a tweet.
The Kerala Finance Minister also said that the state will lose 35-40 percent of its total revenue due todemonetisation.
The next GST Council meeting is scheduled for December 11-12.