GST: Local bodies’ may lose revenue of Rs 12,000 crore
* State Government seeks compensation for next 10 years to fill up this revenue gap By Kartik Lokhande Responding to the Central Government’s call for pre-introduction comments on Goods and Services Tax (GST), Maharashtra Government has assessed the financial implications on State exchequer and revenue earnings of local bodies in this regard. As per the assessment, if GST is introduced with the clause of subsuming entry taxes, local bodies will lose revenue of Rs 12,000 crore per annum. Losing such a huge revenue will put local bodies in trouble. Raising GST by 1-2 per cent also will not fill up the huge revenue gap for local bodies in State. Hence, the State Government has urged the Central Government to fill up this gap by compensating the State for next 10 years. At present, the Centre has proposed to compensate the States for transition to GST for three years. The assessment regarding financial implications of GST on Maharashtra has been prepared by Finance Department. “We have a...