'GST complicated, uniform tax system not right for India'

rajkot: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday opposed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and said the system of uniform tax is not right for a country like India and he is personally not in favour of it.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor claimed the GST is "highly complicated" and called for a need to simplify it so that traders and industrialists could pay taxes easily.

He said a few days back, the Centre imposed GST on (pre-packed and labelled items like) curd, buttermilk, wheat flour and rice and wondered if they will now impose the GST on air as well. Addressing a gathering of traders and industrialists in Rajkot city of Gujarat, where the Assembly polls are due later this year, Kejriwal made five promises if the AAP is voted to power, including removal of the environment of fear and simplification of the GST administration at the state level. People from various Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sectors joined the town hall meet organised by the AAP, with representatives raising the issues of complicated GST and unnecessary and unexpected hike in the GST by the Centre.

Kejriwal said, "GST is so complicated that a large number of small traders whom I know had to shut down their businesses as they were not able to fulfil the GST requirements."

"The uniform tax -- same tax on same kind of things-- is also not right. In our country, the economy of Gujarat and other states is different. Taxes can be different on the same thing in different states and a same thing may require tax there and not here. I am personally not in favour of the system," the AAP leader said.

As the AAP's five guarantees to the trader community in Gujarat, Kejriwal promised removal of the environment of fear so that businessmen could work with courage and peace and contribute to

the prosperity of the state and the country.