Odisha State Legislative Assembly unanimously passes State GST Bill

GST rollout - Taxscan

The Odisha State Legislative assembly on Friday unanimously passed the Stae Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Bill, 2017 and The VAT Bill, 2017. The two Bills were passed following a debate among the legislators at a two-day special session of the state assembly convened on May 18 and 19.

After the enactment of the GST Bill, a huge number of items would come under its purview. However, some products like liquor and petroleum products would remain out of GST’s ambit. The goods that would be exempted from the new tax regime include liquor, petrol, diesel, narcotics and rectified spirit. On these products, the state government would levy VAT at the rate of 20 per cent.

“The proposed GST will simplify harmonise the indirect tax regime in the country. It is expected to reduce cost of production and inflation in the economy, thereby making the Indian trade and industry more competitive. Due to the seamless transfer of input tax credit from one stage to another in the chain of value addition, there is an in-built mechanism in the design of the GST that would incentivise tax compliance by taxpayers”, said the state’s finance minister, Shashi Bhushan Behera.

The GST is expected to be implemented from July 2017. In a significant move to achieve the deadline, the GST Council, in its 14th session held at Srinagar on Thursday and Friday has approved the tax rates for various goods and services.

GST rates for various items excluding certain goods like textile, footwear, biris, precious metals, etc. have been decided by the GST Council. For services, the Council introduced a four-slab tax structure instead of the current uniform rate of 15%.

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