New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday night passed the bill to amend the Constitution to facilitate the historic GST after the government's assurance that the tax rates would be kept "reasonable".
The Goods and Services Tax Amendment Bill was passed after a seven-hour debate in the Upper House, during which the Congress led by former finance minister P Chidambaram tried to corner the government with two demands - that there should be a cap on the standard GST rate at 8%, and that IGST and CGST Bills will not be passed as money bills but as financial bills.
The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha earlier. It will now go back to the Lower House to incorporate the amendments approved by the Rajya Sabha.
The bill will also have to be approved by 50 per cent of all the state assemblies.AIADMK was the only party to oppose the measure and its members staged a walkout from the House to register their unhappiness over the bill which lays the ground for rollout of uniform Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime that will subsume all indirect taxes including central excise duty and state VAT/sales tax.
This body will determine the final rate.
The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014, that would lay the ground for roll out of Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, was passed by the opposition-dominated Upper House after the government moved four amendments.
Money bills do not require approval of the Upper House and their mere passage in the Lok Sabha, where the ruling NDA has absolute majority, is enough for converting it into a law.
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