GST Council may cut rates on 80% items in 28% slab, rates on over 100 already slashed: Sushil Modi

Mumbai: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who is also a member of the GST council, on Wednesday said tax rates on 80 percent items of top 28 percent slab are likely to be slashed at the council’s meeting starting Thursday. “Tax rates on 80 percent of 227 items falling in top slab is likely to be reduced from 28 percent to 18 percent in the next GST council meeting. The GST fitment committee has also recommended reducing tax rates from 18 percent to 12 percent on a number of goods”, Sushil Modi said at a function at the Bihar Chamber of Commerce here. [caption id=“attachment_4200803” align=“alignleft” width=“300”]  Representational image. Reuters/Adnan Abidi.[/caption] “So far, tax rates have been slashed on more than 100 items”, he added. The GST Council will meet on November 9 and 10 in Assam’s capital Guwahati. Sushil Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio, was interacting with representatives of associations formed by traders involved in businesses like food, textiles, consumer goods, real estate etc. Noting with concern that GST returns had dropped in September to 46.4 percent from 58 percent in the preceding month in Bihar, Sushil Modi said “directions have been issued to conduct a survey and find out what are the problems that businessmen may be facing”. Sushil Modi said like demonetisation, GST too aimed at “achieving a clean, transparent and honest economy” and claimed “the common people have no problems with the new tax regime per se. Though there may be anxieties over procedural complexities”. “The new generation of traders is rapidly moving towards digitization. They want to change the way business is done and are not willing to continue with the kachcha bill system”, the Bihar Deputy CM said.