GST may be going nowhere, but the ministers are definitely going places. State finance ministers and officials kick off their 11th overseas tour in six years in September to ?study? goods and services tax or similar regimes abroad. The 12-day programme will cover Canada and Japan. The Canadian model seems to have won over the ministers as this will be their second visit to that country after 2006.
The empowered committee of state finance ministers has sought permission from the external affairs ministry for the 50-strong delegation which will also include officials from the Union finance ministry and state revenue departments. The costs will be shared by individual states and the empowered committee.
Last September, a similar delegation had visited France, Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg. However, West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra and ministers from Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh did not join the 60-member delegation. Interestingly, Madhya Pradesh finance minister Raghavji, who has criticised the GST structure from its early days, was part of the team. His participation had raised hopes of an early implementation of GST, but not much progress was made.
The Union government introduced the GST Bill in the Budget session last year, after which it was referred to the parliamentary standing committee on finance headed by Yashwant Sinha. The committee is expected to submit its report during Parliament?s monsoon session. Even if a modified Bill is introduced at the earliest, GST is unlikely to be implemented from the next fiscal since the legislative process takes time.
After the Bill is passed by a two-third majority in both the Houses, at least half of the states must ratify it.
The proposed GST will subsume most indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax at the central level and VAT at the state level, besides local levies. The implementation of GST has been hanging fire for four years, mainly due to opposition from Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states. It has already missed the deadlines of April 2010, April 2011 and April 2012.