The GST
Council will
consider reducing tax on electric
vehicles, which are
seen as more environment-friendly, and the matter is pending before it,
Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur
informed the Lok Sabha on Monday 24 June ‘19.
Thakur was replying to a question asked by BJP member Varun Gandhi during the
Question Hour.
"The matter has been placed before the GST Council and will be considered.
As of now, it is pending before the council," he said.
Tax filers doubled under GST; people trust the new tax
regime
Thakur said
the number of tax filers has doubled under the GST, and it shows that people's
trust in the new tax regime has increased.
He said the council has taken several decisions since the Goods and Services
Tax, which has brought many indirect taxes levied by states and the Centre
under one regime, was rolled out in 2017 to simplify the exercise and also to
benefit traders, including MSME sector.
Benefits totalling over Rs 92 thousand crore have been provided to them, he
said.
The minister said over 21 lakh returns were filed in a single day last month
which, he added, indicates the new tax regime has become better with time after
initial glitches and has stabilised.
The tax
collection in April-May
this year had increased by over 8.5 per cent compared to the corresponding
period last year.
He also submitted a written reply to a question asked about tax collections.
Tax collection
The total
direct tax in 2018-19 was Rs 11,37,685 crore against 10,02,037 in 2017-18, he
said, adding the direct tax-GDP ratio has risen to 5.98 per cent from 5.86 per
cent.
The GST collection in 2018-19 was Rs 5,81,563 against Rs 4,42,561 crore in
2017-18, he said, adding the total non-GST indirect tax collection was Rs
3,55,906 crore in the last fiscal compared to Rs 4,69,092 crore in the previous
year.
|
