Business

Council to consider slashing GST on common use goods

The all-powerful GST Council may consider lowering tax rates on a host of goods such as handmade furniture, plastic products and daily use items like shampoo, and simplify return filing rules in its meeting this week.

The Council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, is scheduled to meet on November 10 to consider lowering of the 28 per cent GST rate on certain common use items, government officials said.

In further relief to small and medium enterprises, the panel is likely to rationalise tax rate in sectors where the total incidence of taxation has gone up because the goods were earlier either exempt from excise or was attracted lower VAT rates in the previous indirect tax regime.

The Council has been meeting every month since the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, which amalgamated over a dozen central and state taxes, was introduced on July 1.

The meetings have resulted in an array of changes to ease compliance burden on businesses as well as provided relief to consumers.

“A rationalisation of items in the 28 per cent tax bracket is expected. Most of the daily use items could be lowered to 18 per cent. Also tax rate on items like furniture, electric switches, plastic pipes could be relooked,” an official said.

 

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