Maharashtra Assembly clears GST bill, finance minister says it will strengthen state’s economy

Mumbai city news: State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the new tax regime would help strengthen Maharashtra’s economy

After two days of discussion, the Maharashtra Assembly on Monday unanimously cleared the Goods and Services Tax (GST) ratification bill, paving the way for a uniform tax rates for goods and services across India from July 1. The bill will now be sent to the legislative council for approval and is expected to get the upper house’s nod on Monday itself.

State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the new tax regime would eliminate ‘tax terrorism’. (Kunal Patil/HT)

State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the new tax regime would help strengthen Maharashtra’s economy and would also eliminate the tax terrorism being faced by the common people. Mungantiwar claimed that the state’s economy was strong enough to adopt the GST and would not need compensation from the Centre against revenue losses after two years. “I personally believe the revenue of the Maharashtra government will increase and after two years, we won’t need any compensation for revenue losses,” Mungantiwar said in the lower house.

The state government had called a three-day special session of the state legislature from Saturday to deliberate upon the GST bill.