With serious birth defects, GST worsened in last 5 years: Congress

New Delhi: As the government "celebrates" the fifth anniversary of GST on Friday, Congress has asserted that the GST had serious "birth defects" which became only worse over the last five years. The party further said that the GST laws and the manner of their implementation have "wrecked the economy" and the party will work towards its replacement by GST 2.0.

Addressing a press conference, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said, "The Congress wishes to make it absolutely clear that the so-called GST that is in force today was not the GST envisaged by the UPA government."

"The GST that we have today is a complex web of many rates, conditions, exceptions and exemptions that will leave even an informed taxpayer completely bewildered. Not all registered dealers are informed taxpayers; as a result, they are at the mercy of the tax-collector," he said.

A flawed GST has led to "large-scale destruction" of MSMEs, a sector that contributes up to 90 per cent of the jobs in the manufacturing sector, he said, adding that the worst consequence of the GST brought in by the government has been a complete breakdown of trust between the Centre and states.

"As far as the Congress party is concerned, we reject the current GST and, as promised in the Election Manifesto of 2019, we will work towards the replacement of the current GST by GST 2.0 that will be single, low-rate," Chidambaram added.