Published 17:58 IST, November 29th 2019
Finance Commission Chief: GST an iconic tax reform, will improve compliance
Fifteenth Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh said the goods and services tax has been an iconic taxation reform that will improve compliance in the country
Fifteenth Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh on Friday said the goods and services tax has been an iconic taxation reform that will improve compliance in the country.
N K Singh on GST
"GST (goods and services tax) was a far-reaching iconic reform related to the share of resources between the central and state governments. It is indeed a radical tax reform," Singh said at the India Economic Forum Skoch event.
India had shifted to this new indirect tax regime from July 2017 which aims to bring down tax compliance across the country and create a large single market. It was formed after amalgamation of 17 various central and state levies, including excise duty, service tax and value-added tax.
"Let it not be misunderstood when many critics have said that the GST is a failure. This is exactly not a failure, this in my view an outstanding attempt to bring about a radical change in architecture of taxation which will have many multiplier gains in terms of having the simplicity of the tax structure," he said.
Reduced GST collection
In September, the country's GST collection had fell sharply to a 19-month low of Rs 91,916 crore. This was the second straight month of decline in the GST collections. The government had collected Rs 98,202 crore as GST in August and Rs 94,442 crore mop-up in the same month a year ago. Cumulatively, during April-September, GST collections totalled Rs 6.06 lakh crore. In comparison, tax collections in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal were Rs 5.78 lakh crore.
Updated 18:33 IST, November 29th 2019