Imphal, July 01 2017: Chief Secretary O Nabakishore today launched the Goods and Services Tax (GST) at the Common Hall of the Department of Taxes, Old Gauhati High Court Building, North AOC here .
The GST launching function was jointly organised by the Central GST Commissionerate Manipur and the Commissioner of Taxes, Manipur .
Chief Secretary O Nabakishore, GST Commissioner Gaigongdin Panmei and Assistant Commissioner of Taxes RK Khurkishor attended the function as chief guest, guest of honour and president respectively .
Speaking at the occasion, O Nabakishore stated that GST which has been launched all over the country would benefit all the people of the country, and it would herald long lasting, positive changes .
The new initiative has been launched by the Government in the interest of the people of the country, he added .
Taxation Department Superintendent Y Indrakumar told media persons that enforcement of GST would provide greater benefits to people .
Different forms of taxes such as State VAT, Central VAT, luxury tax, Central excise tax, additional duties of excise, additional duties of customs, service tax, entry tax, entertainment and amusement tax, parcel tax, advertisement tax etc which were earlier in force have been done away with .
With the GST now already in force, retailers/wholesalers cannot hike prices of goods without reason.
People should not pay more than the maximum retail price (MRP) while buying any article .
Consumers can even bargain with shopkeepers and pay a little less than the MRP, Indrakumar said .
States like Manipur which largely depend on goods imported from other States would benefit a lot from GST.
Consumers would now be paying lesser tax .
When a citizen of Manipur buys goods in other States for more than Rs 50,000, the retailer/wholesaler would enquire details of the customer.
When the customer tells that the retailer/wholesaler that he/she is from Manipur, the State Government would earn extra revenue, Indrakumar continued .
Earlier, it was the particular States from where Manipuri people bought articles which earned extra revenue .
GST has heralded many changes and all transactions can be done through internet without involving any piece of paper .
Not only consumers, business class would also benefit a lot from GST and departments concerned can check all records quite easily .
Under GST regime, one will find it hard to hide one’s income.
As such, Governments would be able to earn enhanced revenue, Indrakumar added .
All stake holders including businessmen attended the GST launching function where all the queries about GST were explained by experts.
Source: The Sangai Express
