SHILLONG: ‘One market, one law, one tax’, is the aim of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which is slated to be implemented across the country in the coming fiscal.
Speaking to media persons here on Monday, S.K Panda, Chief Commissioner of Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax, said GST will prove beneficial to the State. “Through GST, the cost of production will come down and Meghalaya being a consumer state will get more benefit because tax will be incurred at the consumer point; a lot of tax benefit will come to the state,” he said.
Panda added that manufacturing states will suffer losses.
Highlighting the ‘One market, one law, one tax’ concept, he said that all Central and State taxes will be abolished when GST comes into operation. “GST, when implemented all over the country, will subsume all other categories of taxes like service tax, commercial tax, sales tax etc.,” Panda said.
With the implementation of GST, there will be no check gates as there will be no sales tax, octroi charges etc.Panda said different tax patterns in states pose difficulties for trading.
“Now with one tax, one law and one market, everybody can sell goods anywhere in the country as laws are very simple and it will be easy for the tax payer to abide by it,” he added.
“Interface with government officials will be minimum. A data entry operator can file all returns and details online and the assessment will be done automatically through the GSTN network,” he informed.
Panda said that GST is a consumer tax regime. “Industry may or may not grow but more tax will come because this tax will be levied at the consumption point, so naturally states with sales will be benefitted,” he said.
“Cost of products will come down and things will be cheaper in the market. It will be useful for the common man as he will get products at a lower price and the tax payer can make assessment through e-filing,” he said.
He added that the Government is trying to come out with a transparent system which will probably pave the way for cashless society.
