Credit for Goods and Services Tax Bill goes to Manmohan, Modi: Dadi

Visakhapatnam: The credit of introducing Goods and Services Tax (GST) system in the country, which was now being implemented in as many as 161 countries worldwide, goes to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said former Minister Dadi Veerabhadra Rao.

He said here on Thursday that the passage of the GST Bill in the Rajya Sabha unanimously on Wednesday was the best example to say that if ruling and the Opposition parties properly discuss policy matters, it would benefit the public.

He said when former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had thought to introduce ‘One nation-one tax’ system in the country, the then Opposition BJP and other parties had opposed it otherwise the Bill would have been passed in 2011 itself.

The same Bill was again introduced by the NDA government, which was now opposed by the Congress and other parties, as the BJP had opposed it earlier.

Putting aside the differences, all the political parties finally arrived at a compromise formula and passed the Goods and Services Tax Constitutional Amendment Bill.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took all the Opposition parties into confidence, was at last successful in getting the Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha.

The former Minister felt that the new tax system would have been more useful if the tax rate is not more than 18 per cent and it was not clear how far the public would be benefited from the GST with the exemption of some articles from its purview.

However, the public would benefit with the new GST system only when the average tax is not more than 20 per cent,” he added.