"PM Modi delivered what Congress only talked about": Piyush Goyal hits back at Jairam Ramesh over next gen GST remarks

New Delhi [India], September 21 (ANI): In a strong rebuke to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh for calling GST a “Growth-Suppressing Tax.” Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said the “citizen-centric reform” will strengthen businesses but for the Congress, a rising Bharat will “always be an impediment to its narrow agenda of dynastic politics and failed economics.”

In a post shared on X, the Union Minister said, “Before GST, India’s indirect tax system was a chaotic web, with every state having its own rates, levies, and procedures. Businesses struggled with cascading taxes, endless paperwork, and high compliance costs. In short, doing business in India had become expensive and exhausting.”

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, Goyal said, “It was PM Modi ji who understood these challenges and delivered what Congress only talked about – a single national market with common rates and procedures.”

Highlighting the achievements of GST, the Union Minister noted that the system has curbed tax evasion, expanded the tax base, and largely formalised the economy. “Since then, GST has created a transparent system that curbed evasion, expanded the tax base, largely formalised the economy, delivered record revenues, empowering states, and boosting investor and business confidence.”

Turning to the recently announced next gen GST reforms, Goyal described them as “another leap forward.” ” These reforms are not just about reducing tax rates, but about creating a virtuous cycle of growth. Lower prices will lead to higher demand and household savings, and reduced input costs will make MSMEs more competitive,” he added.

Calling next-gen GST reforms a “true cooperative federalism and citizen-centric reform,” Goyal said that it strengthens businesses and aligns India with its global growth ambitions.

Taking a dig at the Opposition, he said, “But for the Congress, a rising Bharat will always be an impediment to its narrow agenda of dynastic politics and failed economics.

Earlier today, the Congress criticised PM Modi’s address on GST reforms and said that the party has long argued that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a Growth-Suppressing Tax and that the current reforms are inadequate. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticised the PM claiming ownership of the recent amendments to the GST regime.

In a post shared on X, Ramesh said, “The Prime Minister addressed the nation today to claim sole ownership of the amendments made to the GST regime by the GST Council, a constitutional body.”

The Congress leader also argued that the current structure is burdened with too many tax brackets, punitive rates on mass-consumption items, large-scale evasion and misclassification, high compliance costs, and an inverted duty structure that discourages output.

“The Indian National Congress has long argued that the GST has been a Growth Suppressing Tax. It is plagued with a high number of tax brackets, punitive tax rates for items of mass consumption, large-scale evasion and misclassification, costly compliance burdens, and an inverted duty structure (lower tax on output as compared to inputs). We have been demanding a GST 2.0 since July 2017 itself. This was a key pledge made in our Nyay Patra for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, he said.

The Congress leader also said that the current GST reforms are inadequate. According to Ramesh, outstanding issues include, “The widespread concerns of MSMEs – the major employment generators in the economy – must be addressed meaningfully. Apart from major procedural changes, this involves further increasing the thresholds that apply to interstate supplies. Sectoral issues that have surfaced.”

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced the implementation of the next-generation Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms from September 22, marking what he called a major step towards the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

Addressing the nation ahead of the rollout, PM Modi said the reforms would usher in a countrywide “GST Bachat Utsav,” benefiting poor, middle-class, farmers, traders, and entrepreneurs alike.

“From the sunrise of the very first day of Navratri, the nation is taking another important and major step towards the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. Tomorrow, on the first day of Navratri, September 22, along with the rising of Suryadev, the Next Generation GST Reforms will come into effect,” he said. (ANI)

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