Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday held detailed discussions to take a decision on the State’s stand at an upcoming meeting to be convened by the Central government at New Delhi over the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and abolition of Central Sales Tax. Besides, she also discussed the draft national Food Security Bill proposed by the Centre. Senior Ministers and top officials took part in the deliberations.
At a recent meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) held at New Delhi, Jayalalithaa had expressed the government’s reservations against the implementation of the GST and abolition of CST.
“Compensation for the permanent loss on account of abolition of CST has to be provided in a sustainable and non-discretionary manner. The Centre should be prepared to consider more radical approaches, including delegating the levy and collection of the substitutes for VAT, Central Excise Duty and Service Tax within a State, completely to the State machinery, with the Central machinery focusing on inter-state taxation, Customs duties and direct taxes,” she said.
Without the Centre creating the requisite atmosphere of trust among States and other stake-holders, including small traders, it would be impossible to implement this tax reform measure, she had pointed out.
In December 2012, Jayalalithaa opposed the Food Security Bill proposed by the Centre and urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to exempt TN from the purview of the Bill as the State government had been implementing Universal Public Distribution System (UPDS) successfully for many years.
The Chief Minister observed that through the UPDS, the Tamil Nadu government had been able to address the issue of food security for all without any exception.