GST Council meeting: States should be given the right to decide on their taxes, says Ajit Pawar

Ajit Pawar said, "Maharashtra's GST return of around Rs 32,000 crores hasn't been given to the state yet. States should be given rights to decide on their taxes."

Image courtesy: ANI

Mumbai: A day ahead of the GST Council meeting, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday (September 16) said that some of the commitments that weren't fulfilled should be fulfilled on priority. Pawar said that the states should be given the right to decide on their taxes.

Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar told ANI, "Maharashtra's GST return of around Rs 32,000 crores hasn't been given to the state yet. States should be given the right to decide on their taxes."

Ajit Pawar further said, "We've requested virtual attendance at the GST Council meet. We've also given our written suggestions for the GST council meet tomorrow. The aim of GST was to promote one nation one tax."

Notably, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will preside over the 45th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council in Lucknow on Friday.

During the meeting, the GST Council is scheduled to discuss a number of important issues that may include a proposal to bring petrol and diesel under the GST regime.

A meeting of senior officers of the Union government and the participating states will give a final shape to the preparations for the meeting here on Thursday.

Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and ministers from different states nominated to the council will also attend the meeting being held physically after a gap of 16 months.

Rate review, tax concession to 11 COVID drugs on cards

The GST Council may review the tax rate of over four-dozen items and extend till December 31, tax concessions on 11 COVID drugs. Also, taxing petrol and diesel under the single national GST tax and a proposal to treat food delivery apps such as Zomato and Swiggy as restaurants and levy a 5 per cent GST tax on supplies made by them would be taken up at its meeting in Lucknow on September 17.

"Finance Minister Smt @nsitharaman will chair the 45th GST Council meeting at 11 AM in Lucknow tomorrow. The meeting will be attended by MOS Shri @mppchaudhary besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and Senior officers from Union Government & States," the Finance Ministry tweeted.

The Council, comprising central and state finance ministers, will deliberate on the proposal of extending the existing concessional tax rate structure on Amphotericin B, Tocilizumab, Remdesivir and anti-coagulants like Heparin, till December 31, 2021, from the present September 30.

The tax rate on Amphotericin B, Tocilizumab was cut to 'Nil', while Remdesivir and Heparin were reduced to 5 per cent in June 2021.

The Council on Friday may also discuss the proposal of reducing GST from 12 per cent to 5 per cent to seven more drugs till December 31, 2021. These are Itolizumab, Posaconazole, Infliximab, Bamlanivimab & Etesevimab, Casirivimab & Imdevimab, 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose and Favipiravir.

To curb tax evasion, the proposal to make the food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato liable to pay the Goods and Services Tax on restaurant services supplied through them would also be considered by the Council.

Once approved by the GST Council, food delivery apps will have to collect and deposit GST with the government, in place of restaurants, for deliveries made by them. There would be no extra tax burden on the end consumer.

As per estimates, tax loss to the exchequer due to alleged under-reporting by food delivery aggregators is Rs 2,000 over the past two years.

(With Agency Inputs)