Lobo defends Centre's decision to roll-back GST

THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA: Stating that it was not right to compare Centre’s decision to bring down Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the recent assembly poll reverses the BJP suffered in five states, Deputy Speaker and Calangute MLA Michael Lobo said there was a need to bring down the rates further and demanded nil GST on cement.
“The decision to reduce GST should not be related to recent election results. There was need to bring immediate relief to the common man who was burdened with high tax rates. People in rural India suffered the most,” said Lobo, while addressing a news conference in his Calangute office on Monday.
Continuing, Lobo said GST on cement should be made nil as rural India could not afford to pay such high rates.
“If a poor man needs to build a house he has to purchase cement on which he has to pay 28 percent GST. This GST has to be reduced and made nil for the common man,” he opined.
He said that a real estate businessman was not concerned about the 28 percent GST on cement, as he was compensated by way of input tax.
He further said that he will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to bring down GST rates further, especially on cement.
It may be recalled the GST Council on Saturday had reduced rates on 23 items from 18 per cent to 12 and 5 per cent. Several items, including movie tickets, television and computer sets, will become cheaper after slashing of GST rates.
Vouching for the GST legislation, the deputy speaker said that its implementation was not done properly and disclosed that everybody was expecting it would be brought down further.
India was one of the few countries in the world with four GST rates, unlike other nations that have single GST rate.
As many as 49 countries use a single rate, 28 use two rates while only five countries including India use four rates. The countries that use four or more rates of GST include Italy, Luxembourg, Pakistan and Ghana.
The Calangute MLA said 50 percent of the people in India were still living in poverty and therefore the country could not afford to have one GST rate.
“It’s okay for developed countries to have one rate. We cannot have a uniform rate in India but the rates for common man should be reduced to 5 and 12 percent,” Lobo said.
Union Minister of State for Ayush Shripad Naik informed that he will take up with the central government the proposal of Calangute MLA to reduce GST rates for the sake of common man.
“I will meet the finance minister and follow up on the proposal put by the Calangute MLA. If common man has to get relief then the GST rates have to be reduced and I will work towards it,” Naik said.