Amarinder Singh breaks ranks with Congress, hails GST
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh hailed the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Tuesday and said it will benefit the debt-ridden state. Breaking ranks with the Congress high command once again, Singh reiterated his support for the GST while addressing the media for the first time since he was elected to power. The Bill was passed in the state’s Assembly unanimously.
“We are totally for GST. The state of Punjab will benefit tremendously from it. The Vajpayee-led government had started the taxation reform by forming a committee that deliberated upon the GST model. It was taken forward by former PM Manmohan Singh, who proposed that the tax should be capped at 18 per cent,” he said.
The CM’s statement has come just days after the party boycotted the midnight session of the Parliament that was organised to announce the implementation of the GST from July 1.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had termed the reform “half-baked” and had hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government for rolling it out “without planning, foresight, and institutional readiness”. Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram had gone even further, terming it “an imperfect tax that will usher in a long …read more
