From Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Shillong will host the next meeting of the Empowered Committee (EC) of Finance Ministers in June to discuss specific problems of the North Eastern states as far as the contentious Goods and Service Tax (GST) is concerned, Meghalaya Excise Minister, Zenith Sangma, who attended the meeting in Mussoorie, said.
Talking to The Shillong Times after the meeting on Sunday, Sangma said that the State pressed upon the Chairman of the Committee, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, and other participating states to hold a separate meeting for the North East considering the fact that the socioeconomic situation in the region is different from other parts of the country.
The meet in Shillong would also deliberate upon issues concerning other special category states in the country. States like Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh will participate in the meeting.
The Empowered Committee meeting in Mussoorie was held to give further push to the GST and sort out complex issues like tax rates and list of exemptions under the proposed indirect tax regime. It also deliberated on the recommendations of reports of three subcommittees on different aspects of the proposed GST besides discussing the revenue-neutral rates of GST tax which would be levied by both the state and the Centre. Among other things, the meeting discussed the list of goods and services which should be exempted from the GST and tax on imported goods.
While discussing the threshold limit for registration by businesses for GST, Sangma advocated a different limit for the North East region citing the geopolitical situation in the area.
The Empowered Committee looked at ways to free traders from the system of dual control of Centre and state in addition to issues related with inter-state trade.
There was a standstill on GST talks, as state governments were demanding full compensation from the Centre on account of losses they were suffering due to reduction in Central Sales Tax (CST) rates.
Modi said there have been some positive movements towards GST in the recent months and the EC would try to address “unresolved” issues.
“There was sort of stagnation on the GST front.
However, there have been positive developments after P Chidambaram took over the finance portfolio last year,” he said.
The meeting also discussed the status of value-added tax, non-VAT revenue and assessment of VAT rates.
A Constitution Amendment bill to give effect to GST is pending in Parliament. The Centre and state governments are engaged in hectic negotiation for early implementation of the indirect tax regime.