The ANC has demanded that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation period be extended by another three years due to the current economic situation and the poor financial health of the provinces. Speaking to the media at Congress’ chintanshivir in Udaipur, former union finance minister P Chidambaram, who heads the shivir economic team, also called for “a reorganization of economic policies” in order to further liberalize and redress “inequality and extreme poverty.”
The five-year compensation period for any tax losses after the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax will expire in June this year. The compensation period should be extended to at least another three years given the fragile financial health status of the provinces, ”Chidambaram said.
Describing the current economic situation as “a matter of great concern”, Chidambaram said, “Inflation has risen to an unacceptable level. WPI is at 14.55% and CPI is at 7.9%. There is a high tax on petrol and diesel and a high GST tax rate. The employment situation has never been this low as the unemployment rate is 40.38% and the unemployment rate is 7.83%.
Rejecting inflation rates as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war, the former minister joked that it was “a loose excuse” and argued that “a higher inflation rate was recognized in the pre-Ukraine war. The Ukrainian war has exacerbated our problem.
Chidambaram accused the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) of sitting behind a curve.The former minister, who was one of the key players in the 1991 economic liberation and Manmohan Singh and PV Narsimha Rao, are pushing for a policy reform, which will be part of Congress’s economic vision for the 2024 elections.“Congress has introduced a new freedom. Thirty years have passed and we now believe it is the right time for a re-evaluation of economic policies and a comprehensive review of Center-state spending. The reorganization of economic policies must address new challenges, social inequalities and extreme poverty, ”he said.
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