After reducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on small screen televisions, washing machines, and refrigerators, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has expressed hope that with the revenue expansion, tax rates on large screen TVs, air conditioners, cement etc can be cut as well. After the recent rate rationalisation on July 21, the total number of goods under the highest tax bracket of 28% has been reduced to 35.
“The other items outside the luxury–sin goods category are cement, air-conditioners, large screen televisions and a handful of others. Hopefully, with further expansion of revenues, these few items may also witness a change of category,” Arun Jaitley said in a Facebook post on Friday.
Items of common use like footwear, fridge, washing machines etc may get cheaper with the GST rate cut on about 88 items coming into effect on Friday. Refrigerator, washing machine, small screen TV, storage water heaters, paints and varnishes will attract 18% GST as against 28% earlier.
“…within a record period of thirteen months, the GST Council has almost phased out the 28% category. It is only a matter of time that the final obituary of the ‘Congress Legacy Tax’ is written. Only the luxury-sin tax would remain,” Arun Jaitley added. The 28th GST meeting was the first meeting which was chaired by interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal and not Arun Jaitley as the later is recovering from his surgery performed in May.
“If the entire category of all the slabs is taken, the past one year has seen a reduction of tax in 384 commodities with no increase on a single product. India has never witnessed such mass tax reduction since Independence,” Arun Jaitley said. He said that the result of GST implementation and subsequent tweaks has been “lesser rates and higher collection. The GST Council will meet again on August 4.