Buoyant GST collections will create room for the GST Council to lower tax rates, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, the convenor of a ministerial group of the Council tasked with analysing revenue trends, said on Friday. 

“Last year, GST revenues were around ₹1.5 lakh crore a month and this year, the average revenues have been around ₹1.6 lakh crore. I believe if this trend persists, the GST Council would be inspired to further cut the average tax rate which is less than 12% now,” Mr. Chautala said.    

Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra, who spoke after Mr. Chautala at an event in Gurugram to introduce a new reward scheme for consumers who upload their GST-paid invoices on an app, said it was the GST Council’s endeavour to keep rates minimal. 

Mr. Chautala said replicating the lottery-like system, which many States operated earlier to popularise the Value-Added Tax (VAT) regime, was discussed in the Council three years ago, and would help monitor business-to-consumer transactions better. 

“It was decided to start it as a pilot in Haryana, Gujarat, Assam and three Union Territories with ₹30 crore set aside per year to reward taxpayers directly by a draw of lots for uploading invoices under the ‘Mera Bill Mera Adhikaar Scheme’,” Mr. Chautala added.  

Source: The Hindu