Thiruvananthapuram: Contrary to the ruling party’s anti-GST stand, the Economic Review tabled in the Assembly on Thursday stated that the latest indirect tax regime would fetch more tax revenue for the state, and achieve the desired growth of more than 20 percent in tax revenues. However, finance minister Dr T. M. Thomas Isaac himself has conceded that his 2017-18 budget estimate of 26.64 percent growth in tax revenue would be achieved.
The Survey described the introduction of GST as “one of the landmark tax reforms in the post-independent history of India.” “It is widely presumed that introduction of GST would augment efficiency in economic activities and would benefit the state in the enhancement of indirect tax proceeds, once the technical glitches encountering in the initial phase of introduction of the new tax regime are cleared,” the Survey noted.
It also patted the LDF government for the influential role it played in restructuring the GST paradigm. “The state government has made laudable interventions in the GST councils time and again to bring in structural changes in the GST system and in the tax rates for getting maximum benefits to the state and also to protect the interest of the Consumers,” it said.
