Our Opposition Forced Govt to Relent on GST Tax Slabs: Congress

The GST Council has announced rate cuts on 177 goods.

The Congress party, on 10 November, said its opposition had forced the government to "relent" and slash tax slabs for 178 items to 18 percent and remarked that the "populous changes" were made with an eye on the Gujarat elections, though the Model Code of Conduct was in force in the state.

Earlier, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said his party will not allow the government to impose 'Gabbar Singh Tax' – Gandhi's acronym for GST or Goods and Services Tax.

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. #GSTCouncilMeet

— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) November 10, 2017

The GST Council – which also has state Finance Ministers including those from Congress-ruled states on board – announced rate cuts on 177 goods on 10 November.

The Congress also demanded that petroleum products, real estate and electricity be brought under the GST's ambit.

The Congress, which has been demanding to constitutionally cap the Goods and Services Tax (GST) at a maximum of 18 percent, said that if electricity, petroleum, real estate are kept out, 50 per cent of total revenue stays out of GST ambit.

Congress Members React to GST Rate Cuts

‘Might’ is not always ‘right’. Glad to see that the resolve of people and Congress party’s opposition has finally forced the government to relent. We will continue to fight for making GST from ‘flawed’ to ‘flawless’.

Randeep Singh Surjewala, Congress spokesperson

"Persistent pressure built by the Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party forced the GST Council and the BJP Government to reduce taxes on items of daily usage being taxed under the 28 percent bracket. The political turmoil and widespread protests have made Modi Government extremely nervous and partially backtrack," he said.

"But people of India, particularly shopkeepers, traders, MSMEs, are distressed with the lopsided architecture, design and implementation mechanism of Modi ji's 'Gabbar Singh Tax'," he added.

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said Congress is "vindicated" by the reduction in GST rates, and said that it was done because of the Gujarat elections.

In a series of tweets after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the GST rate cuts, Chidambaram said:

When GST rate is capped at 18%, this Govt would have learnt its lesson belatedly.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) November 10, 2017

Congress is vindicated. I am vindicated. The merit of capping GST at 18% is now recognised.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) November 10, 2017

Thank you Gujarat. Your elections did what Parliament and common sense could not do.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) November 10, 2017

Congress party's next goal will be to push for one rate: RNR with an RNR plus and an RNR minus.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) November 10, 2017

(With inputs from IANS.)