Chennai: Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Saturday pointed out that the Punchhi Commission had supported her government's stand on GST. She said “On Goods and Services Tax, the Punchhi Commission has made certain recommendations that fully support the stand taken by the Government of Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu's demands that revenue neutrality must be ensured, a consensus must be reached on the revenue neutral rate and assurance of providing 100 per cent compensation to states for revenue loss before proceeding with the Constitutional Amendment Bill, finds resonance in the Commission's recommendations.
The recommendation on subjecting polluting inputs and outputs, petroleum products, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products to non-rebatable levy is also in line with Tamil Nadu's demand to keep Petroleum products out of GST and to enable States to levy additional taxes on tobacco and tobacco products.
On the issue of institutionalizing the mechanism to implement GST, the Punchhi Commission has very approvingly cited the functioning of the empowered committee of state finance ministers and called for making this arrangement permanent. This has also been Tamil Nadu's stand”
