Terming the Goods & Services Tax (GST) implemented by the Narendra Modi government as "cumbersome", Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala on Saturday alleged that   Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government has imposed the highest-ever GST rate in the world.

Addressing a Traders' Conference at Panipat, the senior Congress leader said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule had put a cap of 18 percent on GST.  He alleged that the GST rolled out by the Modi government, with 5-tier tax structure would hit out at livelihood of shopkeepers, traders, micro & small businesses, farmers and common man of the country.

At the function held to protest on the first day of implementation of GST in the country, Surjewala said, “GST in current form will be a body blow to the farmers, textile sector, small & medium businesses on one hand and will lead to runaway inflation for all goods of mass consumption for the common man on the other”.

“UPA’s GST was simple, transparent and uncomplicated taxation on goods and services, while BJP’s GST is a complicated maze of multi-tier tax structure requiring 37 Returns to be filed by every tax payer per year. In case, a tax payer is doing business in all states, Union Territories, it will be 1332 Returns, which is shocking”, he added.

He further stated that India’s farmer was already reeling under the lack of appropriate minimum support price (MSP) and a cycle of indebtedness, the current GST seeks to further tax the farmer and agriculture sector. Fertilizers attract 0 per cent tax in most states but under the GST, the BJP government  imposed 12 per cent tax on fertilizer. 

Textile sector is the second biggest job generator after agriculture. They are the hardest hit by distorted duty structure of GST, which can wipe out the living subsistence of millions of micro, small & medium manufacturers, traders, cloth merchants and shopkeepers, Surjewala added.

Despite the unstinted support to the reform in political spectrum, present GST is a wasted opportunity in incompetent hands of BJP leadership, he said. However, terming the GST  Law as biggest indirect tax reform since independence, Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu said that special provisions have been made under the GST to safeguard and protect the interests of small and medium scale enterprises.

The business enterprises having an aggregate turnover of less than Rs 20 lakh per year are not required to get themselves registered to keep small scale units out of the purview of GST. Moreover, there is also a composition scheme for business enterprises having an aggregate turnover of less than Rs 75 lakh per year wherein such persons will be required to file only one quarterly return and deposit a nominal tax in a simplified manner, he added.