Tamil Nadu finance minister hits back at Nirmala Sitharaman, clarifies state’s stand on price hike
India Today
After union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman slammed the Tamil Nadu government for the inflation in prices, state finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan hit back at the union minister and stated that there is a fundamental flaw in the current GST model.
Tamil Nadu finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, on Wednesday, hit back at union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, after she slammed the state government for the increase in prices. This happened on Tuesday, August 2, when several controversies were raised by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MPs regarding inflation.
The state finance minister, in a video, said that the price hike was a three-step process. "The Tamil Nadu IAS officer for commercial taxes, during the initial committee meeting, had given a written and oral submission against the price hike. When this was taken up by the GST committee of which TN is not a member, I had written to them saying we oppose this," he said.
The minister further disclosed that the summary report with 56 recommendations for rate revision, in which prices for some were lowered, levelled for some and increased for others, was presented during the full GST meeting in Chandigarh.
However, the collective 56 points were given as one point in a list of other recommendations. The situation was such that there was no time to debate in depth about this one point with 56 items.
He further alleged that there was a fundamental flaw in the GST model. He said, “We have multiple rate structures and multiple exemptions in GST. It is the most complex GST model among 140 odd countries that have some or other form of GST.”
Finance minister Thiaga Rajan also criticised how the decisions are made, and how the present voting system only favours the union government. "A 75% positive response is required for a resolution to pass. The Union Government has 33% of the votes. This means any resolution brought in by anybody is at a dead end if the union government says no."
He further added, "Under these circumstances, trying to force out one agenda with 56 items on a 20-agenda meeting is an exercise in futility."
