Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned on Saturday that the central and state governments is aiming to widen the base of Goods and Services Tax (GST) which would help to upkeep collection of revenue flexible and robust. The minister addressed the media during the recent GST Council’s virtual meeting.
When asked about how to upkeep the revenue growth with aim to propogate economic growth rate, the minister quoted that members of the GST Council believes in tax base broadening with increase in the number of GST-registered organisations which are currently 14 million.
The minister said that the collection have surpassed Rs 1.4 trillion.
“We need revenue, we are getting it. We are trying to stabilise it at some number and all, that is there. Instead of I speculating on what that number would be which you can comfortably place your finger and say that is what is for sure going to be the average tax collection, I think there should now be—and most of us agree–we should at every level, attempt to widen the GST base. So, the focus will be on how much effort all of us are putting towards that so that the states plus the Centre put an effort consciously to widen the tax base,” the minister elucidated.
Vivek Johri, the chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), mentioned that by expanding the tax base, the sources of data collection could be ascertained appropriately.
