New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hailed the GST reforms as a “double dose” for the country’s economy, saying that the tax has become more simple and beneficial for every section in the country.
Modi said the two-slab structure – 5% and 18% — which will come into effect from September 22, is the “biggest reform” since Independence.
“People will start benefiting from first day of Navratri. This time, Dhanteras will be more vibrant. This is the biggest reform of independent India,” PM Modi said.
The rationalisation of Goods and Services Tax — which is expected to put money in the pockets of the middle class by slashing tax on multiple items and scrapping it altogether for crucial items including bread and life saving drugs — is the “biggest reform since Independence,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today. The two tax slabs which would be operational instead of the current four, will come into effect from September 22 — the first day of Navratri.
Modi said during his address at the National Teachers Awards that he had promised “double dhamaka” of next-generation GST reforms from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day.
“Without timely changes, we cannot give our country its rightful place in today’s global context. I had said from the Red Fort on 15th August this time that it is crucial to undertake next-generation reforms to make India self-reliant. I had also promised the countrymen that there would be a double blast of happiness before this Diwali and Chhath Puja,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the GST reforms incorporated ‘Panch Ratna’ (five gems) — simpler tax system, better quality of life for citizens, boost for consumption and growth, encouraging investments and job creation through ease of doing business and strengthening cooperative federalism for developed India — to the Indian economy.
PM Modi slammed the Congress over its stance on GST, saying that it had taxed everything, including daily essentials, agricultural products and even toffees for children, when the party was in power.
Had that system continued, people would have paid Rs 20-25 tax on buying anything for Rs 100, Modi added.
