Note Ban, GST Tough Laws With Durable Benefits: Jaitley at Harvard
The speech comes just days after Jaitley announced changes in GST rates to 27 items, among other changes.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will address students at his alma mater, Harvard University on Wednesday. He will be talking about the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and also interact with the students on the tax reform.
His speech comes days after the 22nd GST Council meeting, chaired by Jaitley, which announced changes to GST rates of 27 items, among a host of other changes.
- Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressed students at Harvard University on 12 October
- He said that GST Council will bring in real estate under the new-tax ambit during the next meet on 9 November
- Jaitley said 80 percent of the GST revenue going to the state government
- In his speech, he asserted that the tax department of India was “extremely corrupt”
- The IMF on 11 October lowered India’s growth projection to 6.7 percent in 2017
What Finance Minister Jaitely Said in His Harvard Address
GST Council to Include Real Estate Under New Taxation Soon
Arun Jaitley also announced that the GST Council will bring in real estate under the ambit of the new tax system in the next meeting which will be held on 9 November in Guwahati.
Currently, a GST rate of 12 percent is levied on property that are under construction. The builders pass the input credit of both services and material on to the customer.
Land and other immovable property have been exempted from GST. There have multiple calls for bringing real estate under GST as it is believed to be a hotbed for black money and corruption.
"No Economic Slowdown, Just Shock to Shadow Economy"
When asked if demonetisation was an operational failure in the question-answer session after the lecture, Jaitley said, “Don’t substitute emotional logic of lives lost for economic logic”, adding that the move has cut terror funding. He said the logic of demonetisation was not to “confiscate cash” but to “identify the owner of the money”.
He also said that the economic slowdown in India is not a slowdown at all, rather, it’s “just a shock to the shadow economy”.
"Note Ban, GST Tough Laws With Short Term Problems"
Jaitley spoke at length about the benefits of GST on the common people adding that some people are going to be upset about GST getting implemented as “leakages can be traced” now.
He also said that bringing real estate under the ambit of GST will benefit consumers.
He added that state governments have been largely supportive, with the exception of a few political parties.
"Demonetisation is Wrongly Interpreted"
Speaking on the decision to ban older currencies of Rs 500 and Rs 1000, Jaitley at Loeb House said, “Demonetisation is wrongly interpreted. If money came back to the bank that doesn’t mean it is a lawful holding.” He added that tax department of India is extremely corrupt.
Congress Becoming "Electorally Rejected Left"
At the talk in Harvard University, Arun Jaitley said that the “Congress party is moving towards the electorally rejected Left”. He said that the BJP should take the “vacated slot in the centre…just like Tony Blair did in England.”
On being asked about the newly implemented GST, Jaitley said, “We are trying to change the new normal in India.” He said that the tax base needs to be widened.
IMF Lowers India’s Growth Forecast Over GST
The IMF on Tuesday lowered India's growth projection to 6.7 percent in 2017, 0.5 percentage points less than its previous two forecasts in April and July, attributing it to demonetisation and introduction of the GST.
It also lowered the country's growth for 2018 to 7.4 percent, 0.3 percentage points less than its previous two projections in July and April.
India's growth rate in 2016 was 7.1 percent, which saw an upward revision of 0.3 percentage points from its April report.
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