GST debate over money versus financial Bills

The Aadhaar Bill had done so. Now, the yet-to-be-framed Bills on a national goods and services tax (GST) have stirred a debate, over money Bills versus financial Bills.

In a debate on the constitutional amendment in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, the Congress party wanted Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to commit that the subsequent GST legislations would be tabled as financial Bills and not as money Bills. He was non-committal, on the ground that these were yet to be prepared.

The Rajya Sabha has no power to amend a money Bill and the ruling coalition does not have a majority in there.

The Congress argued no constitutional provision made it mandatory for a finance minister to bring a Bill as a money Bill. A day after, Jaitley had told a press conference the Constitutional provisions in Articles 110 and 117 on the two terms were clear. "The word used in Article 110 is 'shall be,' that is what shall be deemed to be a money Bill. I can't convert a constitutional requirement into my own option," he had said. Meaning, certain Bills have to be brought in Parliament as money Bills.

Article 110 (1) defines a money Bill. A Bill, it says, shall be so deemed if it deals only with revenue raising and expenditure at the central or state levels or results in money going into or withdrawal of money from the Consolidated Fund of India.

A Bill that contains some provisions related to taxation and expenditure and additionally has those related to any other matter is called a Financial Bill.

Constitution expert Subhash C Kashyap said the current debate is like putting the cart before the horse, as the GST Bills are yet to be framed. Though the government has come out with a draft model GST Bill, the GST Council which would give recommendations on these is yet to be set up. It would come up only after at least half the states ratify the Constitutional amendment and President Pranab Mukherjee gives his assent. Kashyap said bills having revenue raising measures and expenditure have to come as a money Bill. The simplest example is the Union Budget, called an annual fiancial statement in constitutional language. It has to be brought as a money Bill.

As the Rajya Sabha does not have power to change a money Bill, Kashyap said the debate was more political in nature.

Constitution expert Yogendra Narain said it was for the Lok Sabha speaker and her secretariat to decide whether a Bill is a money Bill or not, non else. Article 110 (3) of the Constitution makes this clear.

The government has introduced the Aadhaar Bill, 2016, as a money Bill in the Lok Sabha, even as the opposition said it also dealt with matters other than revenue raising and expenditure.

LEGAL LANGUAGE
Under Article 110(1) of the Constitution, a Bill is a Money Bill if it

• Results in imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax at Union or state level but not at local level
  

 

Results in regulation of borrowing of money or results in any guarantee by the Government of India
 

Results in withdrawal of money from the consolidated or contingency fund
 

Deals with receipt of money in the consolidated fund and public accounts