GST Council: No preparations are being made to reduce the five percent tax slab to eight percent, the Center rejected the claim

The central government on Monday refuted media reports that claimed that the GST (Goods and Services Tax) Council is preparing to bring goods falling in the five percent tax slab to eight percent. News agency ANI has given this information by quoting government sources.

Sources said that the council has no such proposal. This news is only based on speculations and there is no truth in it.

GST Council meeting to be held next month

The meeting of the GST Council is to be held next month. Reports had claimed that in this meeting, the council may consider the proposal to bring the items falling in the five percent tax slab to the three and eight percent slab.

The report, which came out on Sunday, had said that according to the proposal, some items of mass consumption will be kept in the tax slab of three percent and the remaining items will be taxed in the eight percent slab.

At present, there are four tax slabs (5, 12, 18, and 28 percent) in GST. Apart from this, gold and gold ornaments attract a three percent tax. The council consists of the Union Finance Minister and the Finance Ministers of the states.

Result of one percent increase in five percent slab

If there is an increase of one percent in the five percent slab, it will result in annual additional revenue of about Rs 50,000 crore. This slab mainly consists of packaged food items. Under GST, the tax rate on essential goods is either kept at the lowest or they are exempted from tax. Whereas, the highest tax (28 percent) is levied on luxury items and this amount is given to the states to compensate for the loss due to the implementation of GST.

Compensation grant system to end in June

The system of GST compensation grants is set to end in June this year. In such a situation, it is necessary that the states become self-reliant and do not depend on the Center to bridge the revenue gap in GST collection. The council had last year constituted a committee for state ministers. It was headed by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. This committee was entrusted with the task of suggesting ways to increase revenue by rationalizing tax rates and removing anomalies in the tax structure.

While implementing the GST on July 1, 2017, the central government had agreed to give GST compensation grants to the states by June 2022.

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