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In a first, Opposition-ruled States on Saturday got the Centre to delete from the records three

minutes of the last GST Council meeting that provided for tweaking of agreed criteria for
division of taxpayers under the Goods and Service Tax regime.

The GST Council, headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising
representatives of all States, in its last meeting on January 16, 2017 agreed that 90 per cent of
tax assessees below Rs. 1.5 crore annual turnover will be assessed by States and the
remaining 10 per cent by the Centre.

For taxpayers with over Rs. 1.5 crore turnover, the split was 50:50 between the Centre and
States.

But the minutes of that meeting, which came up for approval at the 10th GST Council meet in
Udaipur on Saturday, gave States a leeway to split the assessees in a different ratio in
consultation with the Centre.

This was strongly opposed by Opposition-ruled States like Delhi, West Bengal, Kerala and
Karnataka, which felt the reported minutes of the meeting do not reflect the decision taken
at the GST Council.

This, along with two other minutes, was dropped in Saturdays meeting, a Minister of an
Opposition-ruled State told reporters in Udaipur.

The 90:10 division (of assessees with turnover below Rs. 1.5 crore) and 50:50 (for assessees
with over Rs. 1.5 crore turnover) was decided but it was not decided that any one state can sit
with the Centre and decide to rework (the division) on its own, he said, adding that it was
not discussed in the last meeting.

The Minister further said that BJP-ruled States had at the last meeting stated that they dont
want control over small businesses and the States on Saturday said that it shouldnt be made
part of the Council minutes.

The Centre was originally not in favour of a horizontal split of control of assessees under the
dual control or cross empowerment but had to give into States demand in the last meeting.

The Minister said now the Centre by tweaking the minutes is trying to keep the issue open
ended so that later they can exert pressure through taxmen and CBI and ask other states to
also give up their powers.

This is a political gimmick to increase Centres powers by turning 90:10 into 50:50. What is
the role of GST council then if the states individually come and decide, he added.

Trinamool-ruled West Bengal, AAP-governed Delhi, Congress-ruled Karnataka and Left-


ruled Kerala were most vocal in their opposition.

They (these parties) vehemently opposed it, he said claiming central tax officers were
pulled up and told that if they cannot make the minutes of meeting properly they should take
help of State officials.
The Minister also said the minutes stated that new registrations of assessees would be divided
50-50 between the Centre and States. It wasnt discussed in the last meeting, he added.

Another issue which was contested was on import-export, he said adding the Centre had
taken the powers to decide in any dispute.

If goods and services are imported, it is the customs that decides, but in case of exports,
states decide. So they wanted to take that power and give them to the centre, he added.

We have got the three minutes deleted. It is for the first time ever that this has happened,
the Minister said. The worst part is that since the beginning of GST council, instead of
discussing how to reduce the burden of the taxpayers, we have been talking about how to
accommodate tax officials.

The Minister further said the States pulled up Central tax officials for being biased towards
the Centre while drafting the minutes.

The central officials were told if they cannot draft the minutes of the Council meeting
properly, they should take help of state officials, he said.

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