Maharashtra passes Goods and Services Tax bill

In recent council meet held in Srinagar, education and healthcare were exempted from taxation in the upcoming GST regime that would tax services at four different rates.

The Maharashtra assembly on Monday passed Goods and Services Tax bill tabled by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

In recent Council meet held in Srinagar, education and healthcare were exempted from taxation in the upcoming GST regime that would tax services at four different rates with transport, including economy class air travel, being taxed at 5 percent.

The GST Council finalised four tax rates of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent to apply on services including telecom, insurance, hotels and restaurants under the biggest tax reform since the Independence. Briefing reporters here after the two-day meeting of the Council, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said telecom and financial services will be taxed at a standard rate of 18 per cent.

Transport services will be taxed at 5 per cent. This rate will apply to cab aggregators like Ola and Uber as well as those who currently pay 6 percent tax. Non-AC train travel will be exempt and the 5 per cent will be levied on AC travel tickets.

GST Bill passed in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha:

On March 29, Lok Sabha passed the CGST Bill with amendments. All four bills related to GST passed in Lok Sabha. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had called for a vote on a clause by clause voting on GST Bill amendments after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ended his address with a call for passage of the draft bills. "I request the House to pass the bill unanimously drafted by a representative council as is." As he sought passage of GST Bills Jaitley had said that goods may become slightly cheaper once all other taxes are removed after implementation of the Goods and Service Tax. the debate for GST that went on for the day without lunch break covered various aspects of GST. On April 6, the GST bills was passed in the Rajya Sabha.

The GST Bills comprises of four bills -- Central Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017, Integrated Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017, Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017, and Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to the States) Bill 2017. The Union Cabinet approved the four GST-related Bills on March 20.

States which passed GST Bill:

• Telangana had passed the Bill on April 9
• Bihar had passed the Bill on April 24
• Rajasthan had passed the Bill on April 26
• Jharkhand had passed the Bill on April 27
• Chhattisgarh had passed the Bill on April 28
• Haryana had passed the Bill on May 4
• Uttarakhand had passed the Bill on May 2
• Goa Assembly had passed the Bill on May 9
• Andhra Pradesh had passed the Bill on May 16
• Uttar Pradesh had passed the Bill on May 16

(With agency inputs)