Odisha Assembly passes GST bill-2017
From : B.Maharana
19 May, Bhubaneswar
Odisha Legislative Assembly on Friday approved the the Goods and Service Tax -GST bill – 2017 in voice vote.Besides , the state Legislature also passed the Odisha Value Added Tax (Amendment ) Bill-2017 to enable the state to levy certain taxes as mandated in the GST rigime.
Both the bills were tabled in the first day of the two day special session of the house Thursday by new Finance Minister Sashi Bhushan Behera seeking consideration and passing. However , the discussion on the bills were deferred till today on the demand of the opposition to give more time to the members to study and understand the bills for meaningful participation.
During the course of discussion and though the Leader of the main opposition Congress , Narasingha Mishra moved some clause wise amendments in the Odisha GST and sought the bill to be referred to the Select Committee for wider scrutiny , the Financne Minister turned down the plea.
Participating in the discussion , the opposition Congress members and even some ruling BJD members expressed their apprehension that the state would suffer revenue loss and small traders and businessmen would be affected due to the new regime.
However , the Finance Minister Behera and the Govt. Chief Whip Amar Satapathy defended the provisions of the bill and elaborated the benefits to the state. Later the the GST bill was put to vote ,which was passed in voice vote.
The BJP Legislature Party Leader KV Sing Deo meanwhile thanked the state government for passage of the GST Bill to meet the goal of implementation of the single tax regime in the country.
The government has convened the two day special session on May 18 to passed the GST Bill and prior to that the Assembly secretariat in collaboration with State Finance Department had organized a workshop for educating the MLAs on the benefit of single tax regime.
After the passage of bill by the assembly, Odisha joined states like Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Telangana, Bihar ,Rajasthan and UP whose legislatures have given their nod to the new tax regime.
Goods and Services Tax is scheduled for implementation from 1st of July which will create a single market and expected to make it easier to do business, increase trade and tax collection.