Guwahati: Giving a sigh of relief to the taxpayers, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Saturday brought down prices of goods such as TV sets, cinema tickets and video games from the top 28 percent rate, which now only be levied at only 28 items like air conditioners, cement, and sin items such as pan masala, aerated drinks and tobacco products.
Announcing the decision after the GST Council meeting, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said that monitors and TV screens, tyres, power banks (of lithium-ion batteries) have brought down from 28% to 18% slab, while accessories for carriages for specially abled persons have been brought down to 5%.
Jaitley further said it was decided not to cut GST cut on cement and auto parts, in view of the revenue implications.
Among other cuts, the Finance Minister announced were on movie tickets, where those costing up to Rs 100 have been brought down from 18 to 12 % and those priced above Rs 100 from 28 to 18%.
The meeting, chaired by Jaitley, was attended by representatives of council including Tamil Nadu fisheries minister D Jayakumar, Delhi finance minister Manish Sisodia, West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra, Karnataka rural development and panchayat raj minister Krishna Byre Gowda, Kerala finance minister TM Thomas Isaac, Haryana finance minister Captain Abhimanyu and Punjab finance ministers Manpreet Singh Badal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on Tuesday that the tax rates of several goods and services would be brought down to provide relief to the common man has raised hopes of the middle class, a key constituency that no government can afford to alienate, especially when the General Election is months away.
It may be mentioned that Currently there are 34 goods in the highest tax bracket of 28 percent. The list includes commonly used items like 'new pneumatic tyre of rubber' (automobile tyre), digital camera, air conditioners, dishwashing machine, set top box for TV, monitors and projectors as well as construction item like cement.
GST has five tax slabs of 0 percent, 8, 12, 18 and 28 percent with daily essential items attracting nil tax rates and luxury, sin and some white goods at the highest tax slab.
Noteworthy that In the first eight months (April-November) of the current fiscal, the government has mopped up over Rs 7.76 lakh crore from GST. The 2018-19 budget had estimated annual GST collection at Rs 13.48 lakh crore, which means a monthly target of Rs 1.12 lakh crore.