Parties perished after introducing tax: Sena to BJP

MUMBAI: Two days after the Shiv Sena gave its formal assent to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in a special legislative session, the party on Wednesday warned its

MUMBAI: Two days after the Shiv Sena gave its formal assent to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in a special legislative session, the party on Wednesday warned its ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), that the world over, no government has ever been re-elected to power after introducing such a tax.

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In an editorial in its party mouthpiece, Saamana, the Shiv Sena said, “Globally, whichever country brought in a tax like the GST had to ultimately take it back and adopt a new tax regime because of the failure of the GST. Moreover, any government that has advocated GST has never returned to power.”

The GST is touted to be India’s most ambitious tax reform plan that seeks to create a single national uniform tax across the country on goods and services. The Maharashtra legislature on Monday unanimously passed a resolution supporting the Centre’s decision to roll out GST, after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis allayed Shiv Sena’s concerns that the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will not lose its financial autonomy.

The Saamna editorial said, “The chief minister appoints a commissioner to the BMC as his agent who then moves files as per his bidding, tearing into the city’s independence. But as long as the Shiv Sena is in power, we will never let that happen.”

The party further said that though the chief minister has promised that the state and the BMC will not lose a single penny of revenue because of the GST and the civic body’s financial independence will be retained, one has to always be very careful when it comes to Mumbai.