CHENNAI: Issues under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, including demands for lowering tax rates, will be addressed, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has said. He was speaking at a conference on GST organised at Kalaivanar Arangam in Triplicane on Sunday.
Claiming that there was massive support for the GST, the minister said issues could be discussed and disposed of by the GST Council, which has representatives from both Centre and State.
Petrol and diesel have been granted an exemption under the GST since states expressed concern they would be affected. He said that before GST was implemented, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met various Chief Ministers and Finance Ministers. “During such meetings, the States conveyed that if petrol and diesel came under GST, they would suffer. So, they asked for an exemption,” Naidu said.
Recalling a discussion he had with former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, Naidu said, “She said under the GST, manufacturing states like Tamil Nadu would lose revenue. After the Union Finance Ministry agreed to compensate, she said her party would not come in the way of implementing the GST.”
Naidu also stated that the Centre was not trying to impose any language and that it was not the government’s policy.