New Delhi: Ahead of Gujarat polls, affiliates of RSS are having meetings with the government to announce concessions for small traders in the GST Council meeting, that will take place in Guwahati on November 9-10.
The GST Council can possibly increase the threshold of the composition scheme for traders to Rs 3 crore turnover from Rs 1.5 crore at present, under which, businesses with an annual turnover below the prescribed limit can pay taxes at a minimum rate, reports The New Indian Express.
“Now, we have a situation wherein a trader or a small manufacturer based out of Morena in Madhya Pradesh cannot sell his goods in neighbouring Dholpur in Rajasthan — just a few km away — if he seeks to avail exemption under GST,” said Om Prakash Mittal, the RSS affiliate who leads Laghu Udyog Bharati.
While explaining in detail about how small traders are getting affected by the GST, Mittal gave an example of Godrej that manufactures locks. Now there are hundreds of small manufacturers in Aligarh who also make locks. Godrej uses fresh iron, while small manufacturers in Aligarh make locks out of scraps. Now putting both the businesses at 28 percent GST is unfair.
“So, we’ve asked the government to give small traders and manufacturers a 25 percent rebate on goods manufactured by them, which is also made by large-scale companies. Thus, small manufacturers will have a 21 percent tax burden against 28 percent for large firms and likewise for other tax slabs,” he said.
Gujarat government has announced incentives for teachers and municipal employees ahead of the year-end Assembly elections. While 7,000 “fixed-pay” teachers of government secondary and higher secondary schools will get a significant hike in salaries.
The Centre recently was criticised for delaying Gujarat election dates while rolling out Himachal’s election poll dates.