more-in The Puducherry Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed the Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017. The bill was tabled in the assembly by Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy. Mr. Narayanasamy allayed fears of MLAs and said that the interest of Puducherry would never be at stake. Tax evasion would be totally eradicated once GST was implemented. The Union Territory could not remain out of GST regime since it was an all-India initiative, he said. “We have already taken steps to ensure that the flow of revenue will not be affected once GST is implemented. For every two months there will be a review of the situation so as to stake claim for compensation. Puducherry has been given the status of State while it is included in the GST council,” he said. Mr. Narayanasamy said he had attended 10 meetings of the GST council in New Delhi and projected the case of Puducherry as it comes under the category of consumer State. Over 80% of the traders have registered to the new tax system and a help desk has been opened in the Commercial Taxes Department to clarify all the questions of traders in Puducherry. GST will ensure that there will be no evasion of tax. MLAs appeal Earlier, participating in the debate, legislators appealed to the Chief Minister to ensure that the revenue situation in Puducherry was not disturbed due to the implementation of GST. R. Siva, DMK legislator said that traders had come to express concern over the new tax regime. Puducherry did not have any raw material and everything had to be imported. Normally, Puducherry was much sought after by consumers in view of lesser taxes. Congress MLA M.N.R. Balan said that tourism should be promoted in Puducherry so that the flow of revenue would not be disturbed. Another DMK MLA Geetha Anandan said that already taxes like VAT and Uniform Sales Tax had shown their impact in Puducherry. Hence, steps must be taken to ensure that industries and trade activities were not affected due to GST.

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