February 7, 2025
February 7, 2025
ITANAGAR, May 11: Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday informed Chief Commissioner of Central Excise (North East Region) SK Panda that the Arunachal Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017 would be tabled during the special session of the Assembly on Friday for ratification.
Panda had called on the chief minister at his private residence here, a CMO report said.
Saying that consuming states like Arunachal would benefit from the landmark tax regime, Khandu revealed that almost all the district headquarters in the state have the required infrastructure in place to embrace GST.
“Work on optical fibre-laying is being undertaken on war footing to connect far-flung rural populace so that each and every citizen of the state benefits from IT connectivity,” Khandu said.
“GST will be simple and easy to administer, ensure better control on leakages with robust IT infrastructure, higher revenue efficiency, and relief in overall tax burden and with destination-based tax, it will greatly help in removing economic distortions and in development of a common national market,” Khandu added.
Panda, here as the main resource person for the GST workshop for MLAs, officers and DCs, advocated rigorous campaign and awareness on GST.
“Proper knowhow about GST is essential in achieving the desired goal of implementing GST in the country,” the chief commissioner said.
Later in the day, Khandu attended an awareness campaign on GST organised by the state department of tax and excise in association with Shillong zone of central excise and service tax. The programme was attended by BJP legislators, deputy commissioners and officials from tax officials.
The chief minister appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing in an investment-friendly tax reform that will be of immense benefit to Arunachal. “GST will remove a complex tax structure and lead to decrease in prices of commodities,” he said.
Once GST is implemented, all entry gates erected for collecting various taxes will be abolished leading to check in revenue leakages, he said.
Taking note of the vast geographical area of the state, Khandu said five regional offices will be set up for GST implementation and officials in all districts trained in handling the new tax system. He also said NITI Aayog and the ministry concerned were asked to address gap in IT infrastructure for successful implementation of GST.
He further said the state cabinet will discuss the GST registration process towards checking dilution of trading license and tax evasion by non-APST traders.
Chief Secretary Shakuntala Gamlin underlined the need to demystify GST to get the new tax regime into the minds of those who are not into tax culture.
She said the broadening of tax base through GST will benefit states like Arunachal which is a net consuming state and depends totally on centre. GST will also give Arunachal new revenue sources such as businessmen and private companies besides providing a level playing field where consumers will get goods at the right price, the report added.
