GST Bill debate in RS : Chidambaram lends Congress support, wants counter-assurance

"My party will support the bill to make it a legislation. But I only want an assurance from the Government that it will be treated as a Finance bill, and not as a money bill. Then both the Houses of Parliament will vote together," he said.

Chidambaram, who was the Finance Minister during the Congress-led UPA regime, said it was his party that  had conecptualised GST and it had never been opposed to it. "We were only opposed the bill in its present form and felt that a better bill was possible," he said.

Chidambaram suggested that once made into a legislation, the uniform tax, that GST stands for, should never exceed 18 per cent.

Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley  introduced the pan-India Goods and Services Tax bill in the Rajya Sabha.

The ‘One Nation One Tax’ bill has not been able to see the passage of legislation following  differences  between the states and the Centre over sharing of revenue.

In a determined bid to push through the bill, the ruling BJP left no stone unturned to reach a consensus over it by holding several rounds of talks with the opposition leaders, particularly those fro the Congress. The Government also brought in several  select changes to the bill.

Media reports said all parties have agreed to vote for the bill and passing it unanimously, While AIADMK has asked for exclusion of certain commodities form the ambit of the bill.

 Officials claim that with the introduction of GST  India would benefit from the unified taxation mechanism, to barring evasion of taxes. :