NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi said he won’t allow the government to impose a GST which destroyed small industries and took away jobs even as the Congress claimed credit for reduction of tax on several items saying its pressure forced the centre to do so.
“We will not allow BJP to impose a Gabbar Singh Tax on India. They cannot break the back of the small and medium businesses, crush the informal sector and destroy millions of jobs,” Rahul tweeted.
The Congress vice president further asked the government to correct the fundamental flaw in GST architecture to give India a Genuine Simple Tax, not waste time by paying lip service, acknowledge its incompetence, shed arrogance and listen to the people.
Before the GST Council meeting, former finance minister P Chidambaram announced that the government was in a panic mode after the Congress finance ministers had pointed out the GST flaws in a letter to finance minister Arun Jaitley.
“Expect a shower of changes in GST rates from GST Council meeting today. Panic-stricken govt has no option but to concede demands for change. Congress FMs letter exposes the structural flaws in the design and implementation of GST. Govt can no longer duck these issues,” Chidambaram tweeted.
He claimed the Congress finance ministers will force changes in GST Council meeting and said the change in government’s attitude had come due to the Gujarat elections.
“Govt avoided debate and voting in Rajya Sabha on GST Bills. Now, they cannot avoid a debate in public domain or in the GST Council. Thanks to Gujarat elections, Govt forced to heed advice of Opposition and experts on flaws in implementation of GST,” tweeted Chidambaram.
At an AICC briefing, party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi questioned the multi-slab GST. “If 40 percent of the country is out of GST ambit, how can it be called one nation, one tax. Barring 4 or 5 of the 31 states, the rest are seeking compensation from the centre,” said Singhvi.
Pointing at the faulty GST, the Congress leader said if a trader earned Rs 100, he had to pay Rs 110 to take help from a professional to submit his forms.