Makers of SUVs and luxury cars have criticized GST Council’s plan for a GST cess hike, warning the move will lead to production cuts and job losses and dent the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Photo: BloombergNew Delhi: The government is set to promulgate an ordinance within weeks, allowing an increase in goods and services tax (GST) cess on luxury cars and SUVs, as it seeks to restore tax revenue from the automobile industry that unintentionally got affected in the transition to the new indirect tax regime. The GST Council, however, has taken the view that tax rate revisions during the transition to the new indirect tax system that kicked in from 1 July will be limited only to correcting unintentional effects of the tax rate fixing exercise. Makers of SUVs and luxury cars have criticized the GST Council’s plan to raise the cess, warning the move will lead to production cuts and job losses and dent the “Make in India” initiative. The Council’s effort was to keep tax rate fixation as revenue neutral as possible.

Source: Mint August 20, 2017 23:15 UTC