New Delhi. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the budget on February 1, announced an exemption from income tax on income up to 12 lakhs. Now Nirmala Sitharaman has indicated that GST rates can also be reduced soon. At the Economic Times Awards program, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the work of raising the slab of GST is in the final stages and will be decided soon to reduce the rate. Nirmala Sitharaman said that GST came into force from 1 July 2017. Then the revenue of 15.8 percent has come down to 11.4 percent in the neutral rate i.e. RNR 2023. He said that there will be further decrease in RNR.
Finance Minister is the chairman of the GST Council. The GST Council formed a group of ministers in September 2021 to change the tax slab and rationalize GST rates. Nirmala Sitharaman says that a group of ministers has done a great job. He said that I have started reviewing the work of every group again and then will take it to the GST Council. The Finance Minister said that then the GST Council will decide whether to reach a final conclusion. Nirmala Sitharaman admitted that some more work is needed to rationalize GST rates. He said that we are close to the final decision on the issue of cutting GST rates, number of slabs and rationalization of tax rate.
Currently, GST rates are 5 percent, 12 percent, 18 percent and 28 percent. Some things also have a separate cess. There has been a continuous demand from the government that GST rates should be reduced, so that consumer goods are cheap and people should show interest in buying them. GST slab has also been demanded to make 3 instead of 4. At the same time, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been continuously questioning GST. There are also assembly elections of many states in the coming time. In such a situation, if the rates of GST are reduced, then the NDA can also benefit from it.
