GST rollout not to affect state revenue: says official

SHILLONG: The Meghalaya government is confident that the state despite being a consuming state will not lose much revenue following the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
An official of the state finance department here said the state would remain in a comfortable position as far as revenue generation was concerned because of the compensation scheme, which is an integral part of the GST.
Under the compensation scheme, the GST Council has calculated that 14 per cent growth rate will be the basis for compensation to those states whose tax realisation will be reduced.
“Even if we fall short, we will be compensated under the compensation scheme,” the official said.
The official said the GST would take some more time in the state to settle as many traders were yet to file their returns.
“It will take some more time for the state government to finally make the necessary assessments whether there was any dip in revenue generation or not,” the official said.
The official also informed that more than 8,000 traders in the state so far have registered under the GST regime.
The introduction of GST is expected to be a step towards reforms of indirect taxation in India.
The GST is a proposed system of indirect taxation merging most of the existing taxes into a single system of taxation. The new tax regime would be a comprehensive indirect tax on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services throughout India to replace taxes levied separately by the central and state governments.