GST: States FMs panel to meet on Aug 19

Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on Goods and Services Tax (GST), under its new chief Sushil Modi, will meet on August 19 to discuss various issues related with the roll out of the ambitious indirect tax regime.

"The next meeting is on 19th [August]. They [panel members] will discuss various issues among themselves, thereafter I am going to have an interaction with them," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said after meeting Modi.

The two-leaders discussed the road ahead for the Empowered Committee as the Centre is keen on early roll out of the GST.

"We discussed the future course of action and how the Empowered Committee will go ahead," Mukherjee said.

It will be the first meeting of the panel under the chairmanship of Modi. He was elected chairman after the position fell vacant following defeat of the earlier panel chief and the then West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta in the assembly polls.

Modi said the Empowered Committee would discuss issues like IT infrastructure required for GST, CST compensation and the Constitutional Amendment Bill.

While a Constitutional Amendment Bill for rollout of GST has been introduced in Parliament and referred to a standing committee, there are several issues which are yet to be resolved between the Centre and States.

These issues include provision for States to levy cess in case of natural calamities, their autonomy in taxing matters and concerns on powers of the proposed dispute settlement authority.

The two leaders also discussed the concerns of the State governments on loss of revenue on account of reduction in CST rates.

"...Certain issues on the CST compensation [was also raised] on which I also shared my views and we will arrive at a decision shortly," the Union Finance Minister said.

CST, a tax on inter-state movement of goods, was reduced from 4% to 3% in 2007-08 and further to 2% in 2008-09 after the introduction of VAT.

The Centre has asked all the states to file their compensation claims for the last fiscal on account of reduction in CST.