GST a long haul, says Yechury

New Delhi, Aug 4: CPI(M) today sought to downplay the euphoria over the GST and said many crucial issues needed to be resolved before the tax reform measure was rolled out.

"It is a long haul. What happened yesterday was passing the Constitution Amendment Bill to enable the GST Bill to come," CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said here.

He said when the GST Bill will come then many issues affecting the states will come up and a lot depends on in what form the Bill will be introduced. The right of states to raise resources, centre-state relations and other issues concerned are to be raised before passing the GST Bill, he said.

He said there will be three Bills on GST which would come up. "First GST Bill, secondly the State GST and thirdly the Inter-State GST. So all these will have to be passed for having the GST system in the country."

Asked about the party's stand, Yechury said "Our main concern is that the burden on common man should not be increased. Because GST is an indirect tax and the government is increasing indirect tax every year."

The CPI(M) leader also voiced apprehension that the bill could be introduced in the form of Money Bill to deprive the Rajya Sabha from taking it up. "Government will try to bring it as Money Bill. If that happens, then we will protest it as it will be the abuse of the Constitution," he said.

In the biggest tax reform since Independence, the national sales tax or GST Bill was yesterday approved by the Rajya Sabha to replace a raft of different state and local taxes with a single unified value added tax system to turn the country into world's biggest single market.

The 66-year-old Constitution, which gives power to Centre to levy taxes like excise and empowers states to collect retail sales taxes, was amended though the 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill.

PTI