BJP hails GST reforms as 'historic measure' to help common people, Oppn seeks 5 yrs more compensation to states
GST
Dated:- 4-9-2025
PTI
New Delhi, Sep 4 (PTI) The BJP on Thursday hailed the GST reforms as a historic measure that will benefit every section of society, while Opposition parties demanded that states be given compensation for five years for revenue losses.
The Opposition parties also hoped that reduction in rates would be passed on to consumers, even as the Congress said this reform is “GST 1.5” and wait for the “true GST 2.0” remains.
Wide-ranging reforms were announced by the GST Council on Wednesday, doing away with tax slabs of 28 per cent and 12 per cent, and initiating only two slabs of 5 per cent and 18 per cent under the tax regime.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took credit for the GST Council decision to slash tax rates, saying, “I had demanded that insurance be exempted from GST. They were forced to do it. It was our protest that led t
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party's double standards as Rahul Gandhi opposes decisions supported by finance ministers of state governments run by his party. All decisions of the GST Council, he asserted, were taken by consensus.
Nadda said the Congress-led UPA government could not even implement the GST because states did not trust it. On the contrary, the Congress at that time robbed poor people and traders through Value Added Tax (VAT) and left ample scope for tax evasion, he claimed.
The Modi government instead realised the concept of 'one nation one tax' by rolling out the GST in 2017, he said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said his party has been demanding simplification of GST for almost a decade.
“The Modi government changed 'One Nation, One Tax' to 'One Nation, 9 Taxes'. It included tax slabs of 0%, 5%, 12%, 18%, 28% and special rates of 0.25%, 1.5%, 3% and 6%,” he said.
“The Congress party had demanded GST 2.0 with a simple and rational tax system in its 2019 and 2024 manifestos,” he said.
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onaires, while the rate of Corporate Tax has been reduced from 30% to 22%,” he said.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that a key demand of the states made in the true spirit of cooperative federalism, namely, the extension of compensation for another five years to fully protect their revenues, remains unaddressed.
It was meant to be a Good and Simple Tax. It turned out to be a Growth Suppressing Tax, he said, adding that benefits of rate cuts should be passed on to consumers.
“However, the wait for a true GST 2.0 continues. Whether this new GST 1.5, if it can be called that, stimulates private investment – especially in manufacturing – remains to be seen,” Ramesh said.
Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram described the overhaul as a “U-turn”, saying these steps are eight years too late. “I am happy that the government has realised that the path on which they had walked for 8 years was wrong, and done a U-turn,” he s
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