Goa to recommend status quo on GST rate rationalisation, says Minister

Goa will recommend a status quo on GST rate rationalisation, in view of the ongoing fluctuation in petrol and diesel prices, the state's representative on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council and cabinet minister Mauvin Godinho said on Tuesday.

Godinho, who is also a member of the Council's revenue analysis committee, said that GST collection over the next "three to four years" could reach Rs 1.50 lakh crore, claiming that the country's economy had bounced back following the bleak Covid pandemic phase.

"We have decided to submit the report. When the Karnataka Chief Minister (Basavaraj Bommai) was here for the swearing-in, we had met and said that we would submit the report as soon as possible," Godinho told reporters here.

While Bommbai heads the rate rationalisation committee, Godinho is a member.

The committee's rate rationalisation report, Godinho said, will decide on rate rationalisation and which rates to increase and when and how.

"Because of the fluctuation in petrol prices and rising petrol and diesel prices, I do not feel that it would be right to touch those rates. This is going to be my recommendation to maintain the status quo. We cannot get diesel and petrol under GST," he said.

"With rate rationalisation, we can do better, but it will take time. Once the Ukraine-Russia war is over and done with and the prices of diesel and petrol come down, then I think there will be scope to do that," Godinho also said.

"The states get their maximum revenue through it (petrol and diesel). For the state as well as Centre. No state will agree to put it under the GST regime. We know this well," he added.

Godinho, a Transport Minister, who on Tuesday was re-appointed as the state's representative on the GST Council, also said that latest GST collection has revealed that the country's economy had bounced back following the bleak Covid pandemic phase, adding that he was optimistic of a further increase in GST collection in the coming years.

"I am very optimistic. In three years or four years time, we will cross Rs 1.50 (lakh crore). Now the figure has reached Rs 1.42 lakh crore. It shows how much our collection has increased. Once rates are rationalised, not only Rs 1.50 (lakh crore) we may reach Rs 2 lakh crore also," he said.

--IANS

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