As it happend: Rajya Sabha passes Good and Services Tax Bill

Rajya Sabha has unanimously passed Goods and Services Tax Bill after day long debate. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today tabled the GST bill in the Upper House. Main opposition Congress and most other parties, except AIADMK, today expressed support, with certain conditions, to the introduction of GST in the country as the Rajya Sabha took up the much-delayed bill to amend the Constitution for allowing the measure. AIADMK members staged a walk out earlier to express their dissent.

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Highlights of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's closing speech-

#In the GST system you cant have the same assessee being assessed by Govt and the State.

# We will try for the most reasonable rate for GST.

# CEAs report is based on 2013-14, report does not say 18%; we gave a band of 17 to 19%. It's good if we maintain 18%.

# There will be tax on tax in GST.

# States admittedly have to be stronger but the union has to be strong too. India is a union of state and not a confederation. It can't exist without the union.

# Centre and states will sit together and have a uniform tax structure over GST Bill.

Highlights of Anand Sharma speech-

# Decision on GST Bill can't be taken while keeping people in dark.

Highlights of Ramesh speech-

# The investors across the world have also eyes on the Bill.

Highlights of Yechury speech-

# "The supremacy of sovereignty in the Constitution is the people. The interests of the people are supreme. Are those interests going to improve or deteriorate?"

Highlights of Sharad Yadav speech-

# Tax evasion and corruption will reduce with GST Bill.

# The consensus in RS on GST only tells that the bill should not come as a money bill.

Highlights of Derek O'Brien's speech

# GST could also be interpreted as Girgit Samjhota tax.

Highlights of P Chidambaram's speech in Rajya Sabha-

# Still urge Arun Jaitley to amend provision to say GST council shall establish a dispute resolution mechanism.

# GST also stands for 'Good Sense Triumphs.'

# GST not only stands for Goods and Services Tax, but also Good Sense Triumphs. I thank you (Jaitley) for accepting our demand.

# Will campaign throughout India appealing to people to support the idea that standard rate of GST Bill should not exceed 18%.

# In high income countries, the average GST rate is 16%, in emerging market economies like India it is 14.1%.

# The standard rate should not exceed 18% to make GST non-inflationary.

# Need to keep taxes low but at the same time protect revenue of state, government.

# Indirect tax is a regressive tax, falls on rich and poor equally. Worldwide the trend is to keep it as low as possible.

# Every Finance Minister under pressure to maximise revenues, but we must not forget indirect tax affects rich and poor.

# GST will be passed on the basis of serious debate, negotiations.

# In the last 18 months government tried passing #GST without support but failed.

# Between 2011-14, tried to pass #GST with support of Opposition but failed.

# Glad Finance Minister Arun Jaitley acknowledged that Congress began GST Bill.

# Just as 2011 GST Bill was opposed, similarly 2014 bill was opposed, but not the idea of having GST.

# There were too many flaws in GST Bill which could be fixed and hence we didn't support the bill.

# The 2014 GST Bill was opposed, idea wasn't because we felt it was possible to have a more perfect bill.

# Hope Arun Jaitley will pass GST Bill not on basis of numbers but on that of arguments.

# Let me make it clear, Congress was never opposed to the idea of GST.

Highlights of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's speech in Rajya Sabha-

# Merits of the system itself are that it would convert India into one uniform economic market.

# GST Bill will empower the states, will increase revenue of states as well as Centre. It'll ensure that there is "no tax on tax".

# With a uniform tax rate,bring about seamless transfer of goods and services across country, enable us to check evasion.

# 2/3rd of the voting power in the #GST council belongs to states, 1/3rd belongs to the Centre.

# There has been major consensus building that has taken place, extremely thankful to all opp parties especially Ghulam Nabi Azad, LoP.

# The rate of taxation will come down once GST is implemented, GST is citizen friendly.

# After GST, India will be one economic marketplace.

# 2/3rd of the voting power in the GST council belongs to states, 1/3rd belongs to the Centre.

# Two-third of the voting power in GST council belongs to states.

# The merits of the system is that it will make India a single market.

# GST will enable seamless transfer of goods across the country.

# GST is one of the most reformative tax reforms.

# Debate on Goods and Services Tax (#GST), India's biggest tax reform, begins in Rajya Sabha. 

Under the modified provisions of GST Constitutional Amendment Bill circulated among the members on Thursday, GST Council will be required to establish a mechanism for adjudication of disputes, which could arise between the Centre and states or among states themselves.

The 2014 bill authorised GST Council to decide upon the modalities for resolution of disputes. With these official amendments, the government has partially met the demands of the Congress party which has been blocking the bill in the Rajya Sabha. One of the three demands of the Congress was to do away with the 1 per cent additional manufacturing tax.