New Delhi: Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has said that some overhaul of Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates is now required to reduce the burden on small and medium businesses and the common man.
“There is a need for some rejig in rates... It is possible that some items in the same chapter are divided. There is a need for harmonisation of items chapter wise and wherever we find there is a big burden on small and medium businesses and on common man, if we bring them down, there will be a better compliance,” Mr Adhia told a news agency.
The 23rd GST Council meeting is scheduled to be held on November 10, 2017 at Guwahati.
In view of the coming Assembly election in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat expected to be held in December, the government is worried about anger among the business community over GST and is looking to pacify them.
The Centre is trying to reduce the compliance burden of GST and bring down rates to win the support of the trading community. The GST Council has already rationalised rates on over 100 commodities and made refund process easier for exporters.
The revenue secretary said that the overhauling would require some calculations by the fitment committee, which will decide which items need rationalisation of rates under the GST regime which kicked in from July 1.
