All goods taxes may come within GST
States may have to opt for subsuming all taxes on goods, like purchase tax, under the unified goods and service tax (GST) regime.
The Centre, which is likely to give its report on the empowered committee’s recommended framework on GST in the next 15 days, is against continuing such taxes in the new regime.
Sources said continuing such taxes in the GST regime would be anomalous. It would not just be against the spirit of GST but would also lead to issues with the input credit system.
The Centre is fine-tuning its responses on the GST framework given by the empowered committee. The report is expected to be finalised in a fortnight and will be given to the committee for further discussion.
At present, purchase tax is imposed on purchases of certain commodities in some states. The Centre’s view is that purchase tax is levied on the same transaction that would attract Value-Added Tax (VAT).