Guwahati: Commodities of daily use like washing powder, aftershave cream, detergent, chocolate are likely to get cheaper as the GST Council has decided to keep only 50 items in the top tax bracket of 28 per cent.
The decision was taken at a ‘close-door’ meeting of GST Council in Guwahati today.
“Lower 18% GST will be levied on chewing gums, chocolates, aftershave, deodorant, washing power, detergent, marble,” Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi, who is attended the meeting, said.
“The GST Council has decided to keep only 50 items, mostly demerit, sin and luxury goods in top 28% bracket,” Modi added.
The Modi Government has come under intense criticism from the Congress-led Opposition over what it described as ‘hasty’ implementation of Goods and Services Tax. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has been relentlessly targeting PM Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and described GST as ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’.
“The Congress wanted to implement the Goods and Service Tax. But the PM Modi-led government at the Centre has imposed the Gabbar Singh Tax,” Rahul Gandhi said at an election rally in poll bound Gujarat.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier hinted at pruning the list of items in the highest GST tax bracket of 28 per cent after revenue in the new regime equalise collections previously.
Under (GST) regime implemented from July, over 1,200 products and services have been fitted into one of the 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent tax slabs based on the principle of keeping the total tax incidence at almost the same level as previously as well as keeping revenue collections neutral.
Jaitley said some of the items should never have been in the 28 per cent slab and the GST Council in the last 3-4 meetings has slashed rates on over 100 items, thereby bringing them down either from 28 per cent to 18 per cent or from 18 per cent to 12 per cent.
“The whole idea is, as your revenue collections neutralise we must prune it and that’s the pattern in which the Council has so far been functioning. I see that as a future guide as far as the Council is concerned,” Jaitley said at event in New Delhi last week.
