The Kerala State Assembly has passed a resolution against the Central Government’s move to impose uniform tax rate on the State-run lotteries and other State lotteries. The resolution adopted by the Assembly urged the Centre to desist from the move and to continue the status-quo.
The monsoon session of the Assembly, on Monday passed the resolution moved by Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac after a discussion over it on the floor of the House.
Currently, 12 per cent tax is levied on the State-run lotteries and 28 percent on the other State lotteries. Recently, the Group of Ministers (GoM) suggested to bring a uniform GST rate for the both kind of lotteries. While the GST rate on other state lotteries would be retained at 28 per cent or brought down to 18 per cent.
The uniform rate for both state-run and other state lotteries will adversely affect the interest of the state and the Centre is bringing the move with a clear motive of helping the lottery mafias operational in the country. In the case of Kerala, the state-run lottery is the only mainstay of around 1.25 lakh families. The money collected through the state-run lottery is funding the social welfare programmes of the state.
Earlier, the Calcutta High Court had upheld the two different GST rate slabs for the state-run and other lotteries, the lottery mafias were requested the GST Council to bring the proposal of unifying the tax rate for both lotteries to bypass the court order.
This is hundred per cent against the interest of various states in the country and even the Centre will lose a substantial amount of tax along with states if this decision is introduced.
