NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha has unanimously passed a constitution amendment bill that enables mega reform Goods and Services Tax Bill or GST. The bill will now be sent to state assemblies for approval after the President okays it.The bill will pave the way for the roll out of Goods and Services Tax, GST regime across the country.

All 443 members present in the Lower House of the parliament voted in favour of the bill, which was passed by the Rajya Sabha last week, also unanimously.Speaking in a discussion in the Lok Sabha today Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the national sales tax as a major step “that will deliver us from tax terrorism.”
“GST means a Great Step Taken by India, a Great Step of Transformation, Great Step towards Transparency,” said the PM.”I think its a good step for the country. We earlier had three major differences on GST that we have worked out. We still have an issue on the 18% cap on the rate of GST, which will be discussed in December,” said Rahul Gandhi, whose Congress party has supported GST after stalling it for months.
In his speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made a strong pitch for “one nation one tax,” stating that India’s biggest tax reform will see the Centre and states “pooling their sovereignty to reap the many benefits that will ultimately lead to India’s progress”.
“Tax evasion will lessen, there will be no tax on tax or a cascade of taxes and ease of doing business will improve,” said Mr Jaitley. Both the Prime Minister and the Finance minister thanked opposition parties profusely for their support to the bill.The Lok Sabha had cleared the bill last year, but the Rajya Sabha sent it back with major changes last week, which the lower house had to clear today.

At least 15 or half of India’s 29 states must ratify the bill and the government targets getting that approval within 30 days as it chases an April 1, 2017 deadline for implementation of GST. Several states will have to call for special sessions to clear GST in the next 30 days.
A GST Council will be formed after that with states and the centre as members. This council will recommend rates and other modalities for GST, which will replace a raft of different state and local taxes with a single unified value added tax system turning India into world’s biggest single market.

Parliament will need to clear two more GST-related bills and each state will have to pass its own law. To meet its deadline the government will push to get this done in the winter session of parliamen..Intervening at the end of four hour long discussion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the GST is a great step by Team India towards transformation and transparency in tax regime. He said it will bring freedom from tax terrorism.
Thanking all political parties and the state governments for their support to the bill, he said, the passage of the bill cannot be seen as a victory of a party or government.Mr Modi said, it is a win for the democratic ethos of India and a victory for everyone. He said, passing the GST was not about a parliamentary majority but about consensus which hs been developed because of trust between the Centre and the States.
Recalling the concerns he had over the bill when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat, the Prime Minister said now it was easy for him to address those concerns in the new bill.Terming the bill as consumer as well as business, Mr Modi said small business will feel more secure and assured it will have no impact on inflation as many items of common man use including medicines have been kept out of it.

 He said, the GST will benefit mainly those states which are considered backward states and also address the problem of imbalanced development. He said the bill will help curtail black money and traders will be compelled to give proper bills. He said, GST will work as a catalyst to strengthen federal structure of the country.