Serious differences between Centre, states on finalising GST tax rate structure: P Chidambaram

Zee Media Bureau

Bengaluru: In the latest, former Union Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday said there are "serious differences" between the Union Government and state Finance Ministers on finalisation of the GST tax structure and that he did not think they were anywhere near an agreement on what the standard rate should be.

"As far as I can see there are serious differences between the economics division and revenue department and also there are serious differences between the Union Government and state Finance Ministers. I don't think they are anywhere near any agreement about what the standard rate should be," he said.

He was speaking at a panel discussion on former RBI Governor D Subbarao's book "Who Moved My Interest Rate", orgainsed by the Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore.

Chidambaram said there is a lot of work to be done to finalise the GST tax structure. "If you don't reach agreement on the standard rate, they cannot fix the band rates. So there is a lot of work to be done," he added.

He said the success and failure of the transformation of legislation would depend upon how the central government fixes the standard rate of GST.

With PTI inputs