GST bill: All you need to know about GST bill's journey so far

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, a comprehensive indirect tax on manufacturing, sale and consumption at a national level, is currently running its last leg. It has been long pending issue to streamline all the different types of indirect taxes and implement a “single taxation” system. 

GST bill is set to be tabled in Rajya Sabha on August 3 and the Congress issued a three-line whip asking its members to be present in Upper House. The BJP-led NDA lacks a majority in the Upper House but has managed to get support of several regional parties on the GST bill.  

The NDA government couldn't get the GST Bill converted into a law during the Budget Session. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced in his budget speech that the government is keen on implementing the GST by April 1, 2016 and hoped that the bill will be cleared by Parliament. 

Let us take a look at the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill’s journey so far:

1. Finance minister P. Chidambaram, in his 2006 budget speech, suggested the idea of moving towards a goods and services tax (GST) and set a deadline of 1 April 2010 for its implementation. He asked the empowered committee of state finance ministers to come up with a framework. 

2. The empowered committee, headed by West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, released its first discussion paper on GST in November 2009 after consultations with the central government and within the states.

3. The thirteenth finance commission backed a consumption-based taxation approach with no exclusions and a low tax rate. 

4. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government introduced the constitution amendment bill in the Lok Sabha in March 2011. 

5. Parliament refered the GST bill to the standing committee for finance. 

6. Sushil Kumar Modi was appointed as the new chairman of the empowered committee of state finance ministers in June 2012 to replace Asim Dasgupta, whose party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), was voted out of power in West Bengal. 

7. Finance minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Abdul Rahim Rather, took over from Sushil Kumar Modi after the latter’s resignation. 

8. The standing committee submitted its recommendations in August 2013 after extensive talks with the centre and the states. It recommended that exclusions under GST be kept at a minimum to avoid distortions. 
9. The central government and the states continued to hold deliberations but a trust deficit continued over the federal government’s reluctance to pay compensation to states for losses from phasing out of central sales tax. 

10. The constitutional amendment bill lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in May 2014. 

11. The new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at New Delhi renewed efforts to strike a consensus with states and promises to pay central sales tax compensation to states. 

12. After extensive talks with states, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced the revised constitution amendment bill in the Lok Sabha in December 2014. 

13. Subsequently in March 2015, Kerala Finance Minister K.M. Mani was appointed as chairman of empowered committee, replacing Abdul Rahim Rather. 

14. In May 2015, Lok Sabha passed GST bill. 

15. The Bill seeks to amend the Constitution to introduce a goods and services tax (GST) which will include various Central indirect taxes, including the Central Excise Duty, Countervailing Duty, Service Tax, etc. It also subsumes State value added tax (VAT), octroi and entry tax, luxury tax, etc.