Jharkhand Assembly voted unanimously to ratify the Goods and Services Tax, GST Bill. With this Jharkhand has become the third state after Assam and Bihar to ratify the GST Bill passed by the Parliament.
The proposal was introduced in the assembly by state Minister Saryu Rai. Except for the lone Member of CPI (ML) in the Assembly who opposed the GST, all the major party speakers, be it treasury or opposition benches, supported it with some concerns.
Important among it were issue of percent income of state due to royalty from the minerals, the subsidy that state provides in food taxation targeted to the poor, and the interests of small businessmen.
Replying all these concerns, the treasury benches speakers allayed them by saying that Center has already promised to compensate for the losses for five years, and in any case , the state Finance Minister will be present in the proposed GST Council to sort out remaining issues.