BJP states continue to stonewall GST

The deadlock on the goods and services tax (GST), the proposed reform aimed at ending the plethora of indirect taxes in the country, continued on Monday when the finance ministers of all the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states boycotted the meeting of the empowered group of state finance ministers in New Delhi.

Convened to thrash out pending constitutional amendment issues for the proposed GST structure, the meeting concluded with the states seeking immediate release of at least 60 per cent of the Central Sales Tax (CST) compensation announced by the centre earlier.

Empowered group chairman and West Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta said since the finance ministers of BJP states were not present, constitutional amendment related matters were not discussed.

Dasgupta said attendance was thin as many ministers were busy with state assembly sessions. ''The converging process has improved a lot,'' he said, explaining that differences had narrowed between BJP-administered states and others on GST's constitutional architecture.

However, a Livemint report citing three union government officials who attended Monday's meeting to say the gulf between the states and the centre on the constitutional architecture remains as wide as it was a few months ago.

Dasgupta said the empowered group would meet union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on 15 December at the end of the winter session of Parliament.