NEW DELHI: Jayalalithaa said she was happy that some of the concerns raised by Tamil Nadu Government have been addressed, though a number of concerns of the state like reducing the weightage of the Union Government in the proposed GST Council to one-fourth of the total votes cast and that of the states correspondingly increased to three-fourths.
“Further, the weightage of each state's vote should be in proportion to the representation of the State in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha). This is important as the changeover to GST has different implications for different States based on their size and reliance on own tax revenues,” she said.
She also demanded that the "Centre should strive for a broad consensus on important issues like compensation period and methodology, revenue neutral rates, floor rates with bands, commodities to be excluded from GST, so that states concerns on loss of fiscal autonomy and permanent revenue loss are allayed" before the crucial GST Bill is taken up for consideration in Parliament.
Jayalalithaa and the AIADMK have been consistent in their Opposition to GST in “present form” as they feel Tamil Nadu, which is primarily a manufacturing state, would lose huge amounts of revenue if the new tax comes into force. In the memorandum, she also demanded that petroleum and petroleum products be kept outside the purview of GST.
She also said there is a need to enable states to levy higher taxes on tobacco and tobacco products on a par with the Centre, as states like Tamil Nadu already levy a higher rate of tax on tobacco and tobacco products on account of public health concerns.
Earlier in the day, Jaitley, speaking to reporters after a meeting of Empowered Committee of state Finance Ministers, said virtually all states have supported the idea of GST except Tamil Nadu, which has “some reservations”.
