Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the revised Constitution Amendment Bill to roll out GST would be introduced in the forthcoming Winter Session of Parliament.
He also said the first “tranche” of compensation to States for their revenue loss arising due to phasing out of Central Sales Tax (CST) may also be taken up in the Winter Session.
“Confident of introducing revised GST Constitution Amendment Bill in the Winter Session. Targeting Winter Session for transfer of first tranche of CST compensation (to states),” Jaitley told reporters.
The Government proposes to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1, 2016, and the new Finance Commission may be set up ahead of its schedule to look into the issues related with the new indirect tax regime.
The UPA Government had in 2011 introduced a Constitution Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha to pave way for the introduction of GST.
States have sought a five-year compensation mechanism from the Centre and demanded that it be included in the Bill.
Lack of consensus on compensation to states on revenue loss has delayed the implementation of GST. The GST aims at subsuming most of the indirect taxes at the central as well as state level.
As part of the roll-out of GST, the CST is being phased out and has been reduced to two per cent from four per cent. The Centre collects CST and distributes it among states.