INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
GST council may rationalise tax slabs in its next meetingNew Delhi: Goods and Service Tax (GST) council in its next meeting may look at
raising the lowest tax slab to 8 per cent, from 5 per cent and prune the exemption list in the GST regime as it looks to increase revenues
and do away with states' dependence on Centre for compensation, sources said.A panel of state finance ministers is likely to submit its
report by this month end to the council suggesting various steps to raise revenue, including hiking the lowest slab and rationalising the
slab.Currently, GST is a four-tier structure attracting a tax rate of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent.Essential items are either exempted or taxed
at the lowest slab, while luxury and demerit items attract the highest slab
Luxury and sin goods attract cess on top of the highest 28 per cent slab
This cess collection is used to compensate states for the revenue loss due to GST rollout.According to sources, the group of ministers (GoM)
is likely to propose raising the 5 per cent slab to 8 per cent, which may yield an additional Rs 1.50 lakh crore annual revenues
As per calculations, 1 per cent increase in the lowest slab, which mainly include packaged food items, results in a revenue gain of Rs
50,000 crore annually.As part of rationalisation, the GoM is also looking at a 3-tier GST structure, with rates at 8, 18 and 28 per cent.If
the proposal comes through, all the goods and services which are currently taxed at 12 per cent, will move to 18 per cent slab.Besides, the
GoM would also propose reducing the number of items which are exempted from GST
Currently, unpackaged and unbranded food and dairy items are exempted from GST.Sources said the GST council is expected to meet later this
month or early next month and discuss the report of the GoM and take a view on the revenue position of the states.With the GST compensation
regime coming to an end in June, it is imperative that states become self-sufficient and not depend on the Centre for bridging the revenue
gap in GST collection.At the time of GST implementation on July 1, 2017, the Centre had agreed to compensate states for 5 years till June
2022, and protect their revenue at 14 per cent per annum over the base year revenue of 2015-16.However, over this 5-year period due to
reduction in GST on several items, the revenue neutral rate has come down from 15.3 per cent to 11.6 per cent."As the revenue neutral rate
has come down and the states stare at a shortfall of about Rs 1 lakh crore, efforts have to be made to make GST revenue neutral and the only
way to do it, is rationalise the tax slab and check evasion," a source said.The council, chaired by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and
states' finance ministers, had last year set up a panel of state ministers, headed by Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, to suggest
ways to augment revenue by rationalising tax rates and correcting anomalies in tax rates.