The Bihar Assembly today ratified the Constitution Amendment Bill on GST after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar highlighted its benefits.
While speaking in the Assembly, Kumar said there were lots of benefits of the GST. Kumar, who is also National President of the JD(U), said his party was in favour of the GST Bill from the beginning and had conveyed this to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at a recent meeting.
The CPI(ML) MLA opposed the Bill and staged a walkout from the House. With the JD (U), RJD, Congress and BJP in favour of GST, the legislation was passed in the state.
Bihar is the first non-NDA government t to pass GST following its ratification by the BJP-ruled Assam last Friday.
The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 on GST has already been passed by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The GST Bill, seen as the single biggest tax reform in a long time, has to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST Council, which will decide the new tax rate and other issues.
The Centre has set a deadline of April 2017 for its roll-out.