Finance Ministry Not Considering Calamity Cess On GST
A calamity cess on GST would prove to be counter-productive, Finance Ministry sources told PTI.
The Finance Ministry is not considering imposition of calamity cess on the Goods and Services Tax as businesses are grappling with low sales and declining demand, sources said.
Reports had earlier said that the central government is considering a calamity cess on GST, similar to flood cess imposed by Kerala in June last year.
Sources in the Finance Ministry said that in the present economic scenario, during the lockdowns imposed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, any purported proposal of introducing a calamity cess would be nothing less than an adversity itself.
This would prove to be counter-productive, as sales are already at low volume and the industry is facing a deep crisis for want of demand and likely labour challenges, an official said. Any such measure would further dampen the consumers' sentiment and could weaken markets' strength, especially when the government is endeavouring to boost consumption," they said.
Also internationally, no country has tried such imprudent fiddling with their existing tax regimes during the Covid crisis. None of the countries, developed or developing, have increased taxes to counter economic impact of the pandemic, the official added.