Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has appealed to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to support passing of the GST Bill in the Rajya Sabha when it is taken up for discussion in the monsoon session of Parliament so that the pro-active taxation system would be positively introduced throughout the country from April 1, 2017.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, chamber president N. Jegatheesan and senior president S. Rethinavelu pointed out that the trade and industry body was eagerly looking forward to the passing of the long-pending GST-related Constitution Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha during the monsoon session. The chamber said that the GST was considered a unique and path-breaking indirect tax reform after Independence under ‘single-country, single-market, single-tax” principle and it would provide massive impetus to trade and industrial growth and employment acceleration in the country.

The GST would subsume an array of indirect taxes like Central excise duty, service tax, Central sales tax, surcharges, cesses, VAT, entry tax, entertainment tax, luxury tax and taxes on lottery, betting and gambling.

The set-off facility available in the GST would prevent tax on tax and considerably reduce tax burden and bring down commodity prices, it said. By ensuring ease of doing business in India, the new tax system would provide substantial boost to foreign direct industrial investment, accelerating industrial growth and employment generation. Considering the substantial trade and industrial growth and abundant additional employment generation that the GST would provide, the Chief Minister, who was keen to accelerate all-round development of the State, would make certain her party supported GST Bill in the Rajya Sabha.