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With a view to having firsthand feedback on the GST rollout, the Centre has deputed about 230 senior IAS officials to different states. Armed with a check-list, these officials will cover two-three districts each, talking to consumers, businesses and state government officials.
The first of the 10 officers assigned to Telangana has met the officials of the Commercial Taxes Department. Others are expected to be here in a week or so. Andhra Pradesh will have five such officers.
States intimatedThe state governments have been sent intimations with the list of IAS officers deputed to the respective states. “We will have 10 IAS officers to cover all the 31 districts of Telangana. They will talk to a cross-section of people and businesses on the GST rollout,” Somesh Kumar, Principal Secretary (Commercial Taxes), said.
The Telangana government is expecting more revenues in the post-GST regime. “We are a consumption state and GST promises good collections for consumption. In order to allay the fears of some states over fall in revenues, the Centre has promised a fixed percentage of growth rate over the collections in that state with 2015-16 as the base year,” he said.
For Telangana, the base year revenue collection was ₹16,201.84 crore. “We will get a minimum growth rate of 14 per cent on this. It will be ₹18,470 crore for 2016-17 and ₹21,055 crore 2017-18,” he said.
The state earns 26 per cent of the tax collections from liquor sales and 22 per cent from petrol, while the remaining 52 per cent comes from the GST component.
Making a presentation on the GST rollout at the Press Club here on Wednesday, he said he was confident the state would realise far more than this.
‘Prices down’Quoting a survey done by the department, he said there would be a monthly reduction of 2-5 per cent on monthly spendings by households after the GST.
Somesh Kumar warned the telecom companies on the levy of tax from the consumers. The government will write to them in this regard, he said.“We expect the overall bill should be around the same as it is now,” he said.
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