Goa passes GST Bill

There are entertainment taxes, luxury taxes etc, VAT etc. State will gain in the services tax: Manohar Parrikar

The Goa Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who also holds the finance portfolio, said that though the state initially stands to lose around Rs 700 to Rs 800 crore with the introduction of the GST, the state would gain up to Rs 1,000 crore from the new tax regime.

“By every bit, Goa stands to gain. Even if you go by common sense, Goa is a consumption-driven state. Look at our garbage dump yards, bales and bales of cans and tetra packs and glass bottles are thrown there. This is either used by tourists or locals. But this only shows the level of consumption (in the state)… We do stand to lose some taxes. The Zuari bridge entry tax itself is Rs 300 crore, which will be subsumed. Then there are entertainment taxes, luxury taxes etc, VAT etc. What we will gain is the services tax, which will now come under the ambit of the new regime.”

Both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress claimed credit for the introduction of the “progressive tax reform” with Congress terming it as the vision of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Congress’s Churchill Alemao said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi rejected the tax reform when he was the chief minister of Gujarat as “he knew one day he will be the Prime Minister and he wanted to introduce it when he came to power”. Parrikar credited the new tax regime to former BJP Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who he said had “introduced the idea of a single tax window”. Congress MLAs also cautioned the state government against the “misuse” of the tax. “This should not be used as an instrument to put taxes on certain things which go against the objective and purpose for which this Bill was brought,” said senior Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro.