In New GST Changes, 28% Tax Only For 50 Items Now: 10 Facts

GST Council meeting today: Over 200 daily-use items could get cheaper after rate revision
Guwahati: Only 50 of over 220 items will remain in the highest GST tax slab of 28 per cent, with the others moved to lower slabs, Bihar Finance Minister Sushil Modi said today in Assam's Guwahati, where Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is meeting his counterparts from states in the powerful GST council. The decision comes amid complaints by traders and small businesses which say the new nationwide tax, which came into effect from July, has increased their tax and administrative burden.
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Sushil Modi, who heads a panel on the Goods and Services Tax Network in the council, said daily use items like shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, shaving-cream, aftershave lotion, shoe polish, chocolate, chewing gums and nutritious drinks would become cheaper.
The meeting, the council's 23rd, is deliberating on suggestions made by a panel headed by Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. A decision could also be taken on lowering tax rates on food served in air-conditioned restaurants to 12 per cent, down from 18 per cent.
The council is also reviewing the need to file three income tax returns every month in a bid to make the filing cycle more taxpayer friendly.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier this week hinted at bringing down the number of products in the 28 per cent GST slab, saying some items should never have been taxed at the highest rate. "We have been gradually bringing them down. The whole idea is, as your revenue collections neutralise we must prune it and that is the pattern in which the Council has so far been functioning. I see that as a future guide as far as the Council is concerned," Mr Jaitley said.
The GST Council has been meeting every month since the new indirect tax regime was launched on July 1 and has already rationalised tax rates for over 100 items. Under GST, goods and services are taxed in four brackets -- 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent.
Today's GST Council meeting comes amid criticism of the government's implementation of GST, the country's biggest tax reform since Independence. Opposition parties have alleged that the timing and implementation of GST has brought small traders and business to their knees.
Congress leaders including Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda led protests outside the Guwahati hotel where the meeting is being held and alleged that all but five states have reported revenue losses after the launch of GST.
The Congress has accused the BJP-led government of not heeding their warnings earlier and agreeing to review the GST rates now only with an eye on next month's crucial assembly elections in Gujarat, where the important voter group of small traders is upset with the new tax regime.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has in an aggressive campaign in Gujarat labelled GST as the "Gabbar Singh Tax" (after the villain in famous Bollywood film Sholay) and urged the state's traders to reject the BJP, which has ruled the state for the last 22 years. The notes ban and GST, the Congress leader said, are "twin torpedoes" that have "killed the economy."
Prime MInister Narendra Modi has used his public meetings in Gujarat to emphasise the long-term gains that are expected of demonetisation and the GST, and has said those who oppose them are weakening the cause of fighting corruption.