Proposed goods and service tax (GST) should have a single rate and it should be implemented only after setting up an administrative and IT infrastructure, former adviser to the finance minister Parthasarathy Shome said.
He is working as the chief economist of the UK’s tax department. “Irrespective of what is being discussed, there should be no different rate, that is not a very good idea. Full preparation is essential for GST. The structure, administrative and IT infrastructure, has to be in place before GST is launched,” he said at a meeting organised by the Foundation for Media Professionals.
But, in India due to various social reasons, there would be different rates for some goods, he said. Mr Shome on Tuesday made a presentation on UK’s taxation system before the empowered committee of state finance ministers.
The GST regime is slated to come into effect from April 1, 2010. The proposed structure will subsume central levies such as central excise, additional excise, additional duty of Customs or countervailing duty, service tax and state taxes levied on goods.
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