State wants GST to be introduced from 2011

The Centre may be making all out efforts to roll out the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1, 2010 but the Orissa government wants the proposed tax to be introduced in 2011.

“It is not possible to introduce the new tax regime from the beginning of the next financial year as several works are yet to be done”, the state finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei said here.

A bill needs to be tabled in the Parliament for the introduction of the GST, a new indirect tax structure that would subsume levies like excise, value-added tax (VAT) and service tax.

As the proposed Bill is yet to be introduced in the Parliament, it is difficult to implement it from April 1, 2010, said Ghadei.

The date of introduction of GST would be finalized at the meeting of the empowered committee of the state finance ministers to be held in New Delhi on January 7-8, 2010, he informed.

Ghadei was here to attend the Gopalpur Beach Festival.

He said progress has been made in Orissa for the introduction of the new tax regime. However, orientation and training to the staff and awareness on the new tax system was needed to be done before implementation, he added.

GST aimed at simplification of the country’s revenue system, broadening tax base and minimizing exemptions, has already run into rough weather following opposition from different states.

Several states including Orissa wants the Centre to compensate the loss incurred by the states due to introduction of the new tax regime.

“We have already pressed our demands before the Centre to provide compensation for the loss incurred by the state with the introduction of GST”, Ghadei said.

The loss incurred by the state should be assessed by an external agency, not by the Central government, he suggested.