Single standard rate of GST ultimate aim: FM

New Delhi, December 24

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today hinted that the country may eventually have a single standard rate of GST through merging of 12 and 18 per cent slabs, adding that the 28 per cent slab will soon be phased out, except in case of luxury and “sin goods”.

He said the country should eventually have a Goods and Services Tax  structure which would have only slabs of zero and 5 per cent and a standard rate, with luxury and “sin goods” as an exception.

“A future roadmap could well be to work towards a single standard rate instead of two standard rates of 12 and 18 per cent. It could be a rate at some mid-point. Obviously, this will take some reasonable time when the tax will rise significantly,” Jaitley said in a Facebook post.

Regarding the highest tax slab of 28 per cent, he said with the GST transformation completed, India was close to completing the first set of rationalisation by phasing out the highest slab except in luxury and “sin goods”.

Attacking the Opposition, Jaitley said their criticism of the GST was “ill-informed” and “motivated”. He said during the pre-GST regime, a large number of commodities were taxed heavily and that the Congress legacy was a 31 per cent indirect tax.

Jaitley said the political noise outside the GST Council was inconsistent with the harmony inside. — IANS