Boost for environment! GST Council may cut tax on electric vehicles soon

The GST Council is planning to reduce tax on electric vehicles (EV), a much awaited environment-friendly call from government. The matter is pending before the Minister of State for Finance and is expected to get a GST tax reduction soon. Anurag Thakur informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that the matter will be considered and has been put before the GST Council already. 

Thakur was replying to a question asked by BJP member Varun Gandhi during the Question Hour. He said that the ''matter has been placed before the GST Council and will be considered. As of now, it is pending before the council,''

1. Thakur said the number of tax filers has doubled under the GST, and it shows that people's trust in the new tax regime has increased.

2. He said the council has taken several decisions since the Goods and Services Tax, which has brought many indirect taxes levied by states and the Centre under one regime, was rolled out in 2017 to simplify the exercise and also to benefit traders, including MSME sector.

3. Benefits totalling over Rs 92 thousand crore have been provided to them, he said.

4. The minister said over 21 lakh returns were filed in a single day last month which, he added, indicates the new tax regime has become better with time after initial glitches and has stabilised.

5. The tax collection in April-May this year had increased by over 8.5 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year.

6. He also submitted a written reply to a question asked about tax collections.

7. The total direct tax in 2018-19 was Rs 11,37,685 crore against 10,02,037 in 2017-18, he said, adding the direct tax-GDP ratio has risen to 5.98 per cent from 5.86 per cent.

The GST collection in 2018-19 was Rs 5,81,563 against Rs 4,42,561 crore in 2017-18, he said, adding the total non-GST indirect tax collection was Rs 3,55,906 crore in the last fiscal compared to Rs 4,69,092 crore in the previous year.