Punjab slams Centre over GST losses, demands release of Rs 50,000 crore dues
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said GST has inflicted a Rs 1.11 lakh crore loss on the state and alleged that stopping the compensation cess was aimed at weakening state economies, forcing them to 'beg with folded hands' before the Centre.
Cheema stressed that Punjab would not have suffered such massive revenue losses had it not joined the 'One Nation-One Tax' scheme. With the compensation cess now scrapped, he called out the BJP government for deliberately wrecking state economies to make them beg before the Centre.
He said, "On August 20–21, the GST Group of Ministers met continuously for two days. On Wednesday, the meeting was on life and health insurance. In the evening, a meeting was held on compensation cess. The Chairman told us that today the meeting was on rate rationalisation, and that all members of the compensation cess would participate. Therefore, we also participated in Thursday's meeting.'
He continued, "GST came in 2017. In the past eight years, there have been 27 amendments in GST, with exemptions given to different sectors. Fifteen times the GST rates of various goods were reduced. This practice has been continuing in the GST Council for the last eight years, and for the past three years I have been witnessing it myself.'
Highlighting the Prime Minister's announcement, Cheema added, 'The Prime Minister declared that there would be two GST slabs - one at 5 per cent and another at 12 per cent - and everyone would celebrate Diwali. But after GST came, who will compensate for the loss suffered by Punjab and other states? Who will pay for this damage? One Nation, One Tax was the scheme of the central government, and all states, including Punjab gave their consent. Everyone agreed that uniform tax rates should prevail across the country so that no state could impose higher or lower taxes on its citizens. But this formula has inflicted a huge loss on Punjab.'
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