The much-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) was rolled out on June 30 midnight from the historic Central Hall of Parliament in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan amongst many other prominent political faces who had congregated at the midnight hour to become a part of India’s transformational regime.
The entry of the dignitaries including President Pranab Mukherjee, Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi was followed by speech deliveries from Arun Jaitley, Prime Minister, and President Mukherjee.
FM Jaitley highlighted the importance of GST and reflected upon the bottlenecks faced by the ministry for the GST implementation.
GST = Good and Simple Tax
Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed GST as ‘good and simple tax’. The tax, however, is the product of efforts of many political parties at different points in time in history. GST is an example of Corporate federalism, he added.
He also informed that GST council has had 18 meetings which have been highly constructive and meaningful towards making it a reality. GST will cease the existence of asymmetries and unsystematic systems which exist in the country, he added.
GST: One Country One Tax
GST Rollout today is the rewriting of India’s future pages, NaMo spelled out. It is the commencement of a new journey for India with the implementation of One Country, One Tax. The advent of GST is a landmark point in India’s history, he said.
NaMo won hearts of the audience by creating a beautiful analogy for tackling teething problems with GST. He said that on receiving a new spectacle for yourself, it will take 2-3 days to adjust to it, irrespective of how long you have been associated with the company. Striking an analogy with this, he said that the GST rollout could usher in a few problems into shifting to a new tax regime but it is only a matter of time.
