Traders, Civil society demand GST rollback

Jammu and Kashmir Coordination Committee (JKCC), an amalgam of trade and civil society members formed recently to oppose Goods and Services Tax (GST), in its present form on Monday threatened to launch civil disobedience in case GST is not rolled back by the state government.
“The state has means to exercise its powers. We too have means so we will not pay tax. We are not asking government to provide us any exemption or incentives which we used to get in the previous tax structure but restoration of financial autonomy. We all know we will get the incentives anyway. We want them to return fiscal powers which state had lost in lieu of GST,” said Shakeel Qalander, member of JKCC at the seminar titled “Surrender of fiscal autonomy and compromise on sovereignty through GST” and held at Rajouri Kadal.
“On the floor of Legislative Assembly during the special session which was held to implement GST in the state, Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu had said that nowhere in the annals of the history has any state government asked Centre to make laws as per its likes and dislikes,” said former president of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mubeen Shah.
Shah said declaring J&K as a free economic zone will help the state to retain its fiscal autonomy so that “we don’t have to pay any other tax”.
Chartered Accountant, Abdul Majeed Zargar said assurances from the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that there would be a different GST law for J&K has “fallen flat”.
“Recently when GST slabs were being decided at SKICC, Jaitley had said there would be a different law but nothing has changed,” Zargar said.
Federation Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK), president, Mukhtar Yousuf said all trade and industry bodies should work jointly to oppose GST.
Chamber of Commerce and Industries Kashmir (CCIK),president, Zahoor Trumboo said J&KCC demands withdrawal of Presidential order regarding GST and roll back of GST law passed in state legislature. Trumboo said demand of JKCC that the state to be declared as a free economic zone stands firm.
Chairman, Kashmir Economic Alliance, Muhammad Yaseen Khan said several assurances by the state government that a draft GST will be presented before giving final passage to the new tax regime has not been fulfilled. “ We intend to hold seminars in all districts to create awareness about fiscal erosion,” Khan said. Advocate G N Shaheen also stressed on need to safeguard special status of the state and said eroding financial autonomy is part of a “larger propaganda”