As the GST regime completes a year since its roll-out, West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra, who also chairs the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST, lashed out at the implementation of the reform, calling a ‘horrible mess’.
In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Mitra alleged that the GST had facilitated the growth of hawala transactions.
Speaking to the channel’s Shereen Bhan, Mitra said the reform was a complete failure, and had effectively increased the burden of the states.
The original architecture has failed. My state’s revenue has not come back to normal, I am dependent on the Centre to give us compensation by constitutional guarantee. It is a pain, really, for the state finance ministers.
Here are the key takeaways from Mitra’s interview with CNBC-TV18:
In conclusion, Mitra states that three issues need to be addressed in priority to make GST a success in its second year.
- The system has to become a GST-based, auto-populated, auto system.
- Deepen work on other reforms related to GST.
- Revenue buoyancy, as far as states are concerned.
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