Urban Mirror Correspondent
New Delhi, December 24: The Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP) today said that slashing of rates of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on 23 items is the belated realization of the NDA government about its faulty implementation in July 2017. The LGP said it is highly questionable that benefits of GST reduction on consumer items would percolated to the ground level and help the masses.
The spokesman of the LGP said here on Monday that the NDA government had celebrated one year of implementation of GST last July but after losing assembly elections in five states recently, it has realized that the tax, which was dubbed as “game changerâ€, has badly hurt the BJP politically because of its flawed implementation, which had landed the trading community in dire distress. However taking the trading community for granted the NDA did not listen to its woes, the spokesman said and added even now the concern of the community has not been fully addressed. The spokesman said people connected with GST regime has still been facing problems.
The spokesman said the NDA government’s decision to make amendments in the list of relief within three months of GST roll-out in July 2017 had amply indicated the unpreparedness and lack of proper ground level understanding in the country’s national tax regime and now rates have been slashed on 23 items. The spokesman said the government had rushed to implement the GST in a huff, as there was hardly any preparation among the traders and other affected sections of the society and chinks have been badly exposed in the whole process. Making it clear that the LGP, headed by former Secretary Government of India Vijay Shankar Pandey, is not opposed to major national tax reform, the spokesman said the way the whole exercise was rushed through proved to be flawed and confused. The spokesman said it has also had its adverse impact on economic growth and employment generation. The LGP said with vital parameters of employment, agriculture, manufacturing and exports segments showing downward trend, there are clear indication that economy is in the red.
The spokesman said the faulty implementation had caused closure of large numbers of small industrial units and its adverse impact has still been continuing. The spokesman said lots of confusion is still prevailing which the government needed to rectify in the larger interest of the country. The spokesman said the government should simplify the tax and processes especially for small and mid-sized businesses.
