* Naresh Minocha, former Head of Business News at Indian Express and later at Pioneer:
Tweet: #GSTBill & economic efficiency will remain lame ducks as long as it keeps on hold the levy of #GST on #crudeoil , #petroproducts & #gas
* Nainjyot Dham and Gurvinder, Owner of Locale Cafe and Bar:
“With implementation of GST manufacturing goods get cheaper and services will be more expensive. Restaurants, hotels, air, train travel, mobile communications – these industries will be affected more. The present service tax rate is 15 per cent which on implementation of GST will rise to 18 per cent so services will become more expensive, so will be the eating out. Indian consumers will definitely be feeling the pinch of higher prices of services with the implementation of GST. Whereas the manufacturing goods will get cheaper. Presently, the customer pays approx 25 to 26 per cent of extra cost of production due to excise duty and value added services, but with GST the prices of vehicles, electronics will fall. The only positive point is that India will become one market with free movements of goods across cities. Tax compliance will be faster, easier and less costly.”
*Dinesh Arora, Managing Director of DNJ Hospitality:
” We are happy that GST is coming as there will be a uniform tax. Mostly, the consumers are not even aware of or ignore the tax they pay for things they buy. This is because there is a maze of indirect taxes such as sales tax, excise and VAT, which leads to increased complexity. GST is a welcome move as there will be more transparency in the system. Ideally GST for the Centre and state is expected to consist of an amalgamation of a number of Central and state taxes which will enable them to give one tax rather than giving multiple taxes. This one-stop tax move will cover taxes like central excise duty, state-level taxes like, VAT or sales tax, entertainment tax, entry tax, purchase tax, luxury tax and octroi. Even at restaurants, customer has to pay multiple taxes like VAT, Service Tax. When GST gets implemented the tax can be 15 or 18 or 19 per cent, a uniform tax. Under the proposed GST, effective tax rate on goods will decline and service rate will increase. Eating out, travelling, phone bills will be expensive but customer will definitely get relaxed on the purchase of few items like Automobiles, Electronic Gadgets. Currently, the effective tax ranges between 22-24 per cent for watching a movie as it has different taxes such as service tax, entertainment tax and VAT among others. After the implementation of GST, watching movies in multiplexes will also get cheaper. Overall, it is a good move as the transportation time and the overall cost will be reduced as the goods will easily be transferred from one state to another. “
As the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday finally took up discussion on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley moving it for consideration and passage, industry stakeholders welcomed the move but also expressed some concerns
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