Bihar Legislative Assembly today passed state Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017.
All the political parties except CPI (ML) backed the bills associated with the tax reforms.
The bill, along with five others, was tabled in a special session of the state legislature. The state cabinet gave its nod to the draft bill regarding the new tax regime earlier last week.
Last week Telangana state passed State Goods and Services Bill 2017 during the special session of the Legislative Assembly.
The new Bill was introduced on the instructions of the GST Council which circulated a draft of the State GST which would confer power on the State Government to levy goods and services tax on the supply of goods and services or both which take place within the State.
The Bill had been introduced as the present tax system presented certain difficulties like complex indirect tax structure as a result of multiplicity of taxes at the Central and State levels that was ridden with hidden costs for trade and industry.There was no uniformity in the tax rates and structure across the country and there was cascading of taxes due to “tax on tax” as a result of which prices of goods and services were getting artificially inflated.
The new Bill would provide for levy of tax on all inter-State supplies of goods or services except for liquor and petroleum products. It also provide for establishment of an Authority for Advance Ruling in order to enable tax payer to seek binding clarity on taxation matters from the department.
