Lok Sabha discusses 122nd Constitutional Amendment Bill for GST implementation

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday took up a discussion of the 122nd Constitutional Amendment Bill-2014 for implementation of Goods and Services Tax after Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai rejected the opposition's demand for referring it to Standing Committee.

The bill seeks to amend the Constitution to introduce the goods and services tax (GST), and impose concurrent powers on the centre and states to do so.

Goods and Services Tax is defined as any tax levied on the supply of goods, or services, except taxes on the supply of alcoholic liquor for human consumption.

Responding to the concerns of members about sending it to standing committee, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, there was no need to send the bill to the committee for further discussion, as it has been deliberated upon for more than two years.

The matter was also extensively discussed by the Empowered Committee State Finance Minister on GST. The discussion was initiated by Congress member M Veerappa Moily.