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Exempt Covid-related items from tax, Manpreet tells GST Council
Releasing his remarks and interventions made at the 44th meeting of the GST Council, Manpreet urged the ruling regime to include Congress representatives in the Group of Ministers (GOM) on the issue; claims present council behaving like feudal lords
Chandigarh Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Saturday said the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) should stop acting like a feudal lord (‘shenshahs of yore’) and let compassion speak through its decisions, as the Covid-19 crisis was once in a century calamity.
Seeking that all Covid-related goods must not attract any tax during the pandemic, Manpreet, along with other finance ministers representing Congress, vehemently opposed the imposition of GST on Covid related items at this time of a national crisis, and recorded their note of dissent. The other alternative is to charge 0.1%, which is well within the powers of the GST Council, and this measure should be in place till the pandemic is over.
Releasing his remarks and interventions made at the 44th meeting of the GST Council, Manpreet urged the ruling regime to include Congress representatives in the Group of Ministers (GOM). “It is preposterous that the principal opposition party of India in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha has been excluded from the GoM,” said Manpreet, adding that the vice-chairperson of the GST Council must be appointed. He regretted that the GoM is not acting with compassion, and it is parroting the Centre, perhaps out of the fear that they may not be included in a future GoM.
Manpreet reminded the GoM that health care services, including all recognised systems of medicine (allopathy, Ayurveda, Unani, Homoeopathy, Yoga), are already exempt under the GST. The supply of medicine that is a part of the treatment package is also exempt since the entire transaction is considered a service.
He criticised the discussion for restricting GST on government hospitals versus private hospitals stating that both treat the people of India. The idea that we need GST registration and billing and later file returns are farcical. What would a consumer feel seeing GST reflected on an invoice, the Punjab Finance Minister asked?
He cautioned that the attempt to pick and choose exemptions on the grounds of inverted duty structure or cheaper imports would end up destroying the very foundation of the GST system. Finally, Manpreet said that Covid-19 related exemptions should not be over by August 31, 2021. Is Covid going to be over by then, he asked? “We need to have a more realistic and reasonable time frame and one which is based on compassion,” Manpreet said at the meeting.
