Special session of Goa Assembly to ratify GST on August 31

Panaji: The Goa government will convene a day-long special session of the Legislative Assembly on August 31 to ratify the crucial Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill.

"The state cabinet has already granted its nod to the GST. We will summon one-day special session on August 31 to ratify the Bill which is already passed in Parliament," Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told reporters here yesterday.

The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 on GST has already been passed by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

The GST Bill needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST Council which will decide the new tax rate and other issues.

Parsekar had, during the Monsoon Session welcomed the passage of the Bill in Parliament saying it will help Goa, which is a tourist state.

The Bill was passed by Parliament on August 8, marking a historic step for tax reforms which Prime Minister Narendra Modi said was "crucial" for ending tax terrorism besides reducing corruption and blackmoney while making consumer the "king". ?

Assam became the first state to ratify the Bill. Last week, Bihar became the first non-NDA state to ratify it after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar counted virtues of the tax reform.

The government has set a deadline of April, 2017 for its rollout.