GST replaced 'Congress legacy tax' with 'good and simple tax': Jaitley
New Delhi, July 27 : Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the GST has replaced the 'Congress Legacy Tax' -- which was 31 per cent for most goods -- with a 'good and simple tax', adding that the existing 28 per cent slab will be phased out following further improvement in revenue collections.
"It is an opportunity to celebrate the biggest tax reform since Independence, which has replaced 'Congress Legacy Tax' with a 'good and simple tax'," he said in a Facebook post.
"The pre-GST tariff was a Congress party legacy. The standard rate for central excise plus VAT plus CST (Central Sales Tax) was 12% + 14% + 2%. To this, if the cascading effect of tax on tax was added, the eventual tax payable on a commodity was 31 per cent.
"Items of household use - from mineral water, hair oil, toothpaste, soap, dairy, to construction material and white goods - were all taxed at 31 percent. The total number of goods falling in this category was 235. This 31 percent tax was Congress party's gift imposed on India. This tax was the 'Congress Legacy Tax'," he said.
The Minister added that the day GST was implemented, several items earlier proposed to be put in the 28 percent category (where the 31 percent items were adjusted) were brought down to 18 percent.
"Within a record period of thirteen months, the GST Council has almost phased out the 28 per cent category. It is only a matter of time that the final obituary of the 'Congress Legacy Tax' is written. Only the luxury-sin tax would remain," Jaitley said.
Around 177 items were shifted from the 28 per cent slab on November 10, 2017 and another 15 items on July 21 this year.
"If the entire category of all the slabs is taken, the past one year has seen reduction of tax in 384 commodities with no increase on a single product. India has never witnessed such mass tax reduction since Independence. Lesser rates and higher collection is the result," the Minister said.
He added that bulk of the items remaining in the 28 per cent category were luxury items or sin goods.
"The other items outside the luxury-sin goods category are cement, air-conditioners, large screen televisions and a handful of others. Hopefully, with further expansion of revenues, these few items may also witness a change of category," he said.
"Similarly in the services category, which has now become a part of the GST, on four different occasions 68 different categories of services have witnessed their rates reduced. The net revenue loss which the government has suffered on account of the reduction of tax on goods and services is about Rs 70,000 crore," he added.
Jaitley said the revenue burden was entirely borne from the share of the Central government since state governments had been guaranteed a 14 per cent increase over their pre-GST revenues for the first five years.
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IPL first phase schedule announced amid travel concerns caused by war in West Asia
New Delhi (PTI): Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 opener in Bengaluru on March 28 as the BCCI announced the first phase of the tournament schedule amid concerns around players' travel arrangements due to the ongoing West Asia conflict.
All matches scheduled at the Chinnaswamy Stadium remain subject to clearance from the Karnataka government appointed expert committee, which is scheduled to meet on March 13 to assess venue preparedness in the wake of the deadly stampede at the stadium last season.
The BCCI announced the schedule of the first 20 games on Wednesday and will unveil the full schedule once the dates of elections in three states -- Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal -- are announced.
Besides the state elections, the escalating conflict in West Asia will also be at the forefront of BCCI officials' minds. The war has wreaked havoc to international travel with operations of major airports like Doha and Dubai being heavily restricted.
As a result of that, some of the squad members of South Africa and West Indies are yet to reach home a week after the completion of their T20 World Cup campaign.
It remains to be seen if IPL bound players of those two nations report to their respective teams in time.
"There was a substantial delay in departure of West Indies and South Africa players. It would be a tough task to get them back to India on time. Plus the airfares have gone up substantially due to the war in West Asia," a team official told PTI.
Additionally, hotels across India are facing cooking gas shortage due to the raging conflict and on Tuesday, the central government invoked Essential Commodities Act to ensure uninterrupted supply of domestic cooking gas.
Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanthan told PTI that he is expecting his players from the West Indies and South Africa -- Akeal Hossein and Dewald Brevis, to join the team well before their IPL opener.
"We are expecting no delays from their end," he said.
The second game of the opening weekend will see Mumbai Indians host Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium and the opening weekend will not feature any double-headers.
A total of 20 matches will be played across 10 venues: Bengaluru, Mumbai, Guwahati, New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
"During the season, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will play five home matches in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. Punjab Kings will play four home matches in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamshala, while Rajasthan Royals will play three home matches in Guwahati and four in Jaipur," said the BCCI in a statement.
"During this period (the first 16 days), the tournament will feature four double-headers, with the afternoon matches beginning at 03:30 PM IST and the evening matches commencing at 07:30 PM IST.
"Following the opening encounter on Saturday, Mumbai Indians will take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
"The matches scheduled in Bengaluru are subject to clearance from the Expert Committee constituted by the Government of Karnataka," the BCCI added.
