Finance Bill classic case of patchwork solutions: Shashi Tharoor

Initiating debate on Finance Bill in Lok Sabha, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor alleged that the BJP government’s economic management is facing structural challenges

New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday criticised the Finance Bill saying it is a “classic case of patchwork” and India’s GST is the “most complex tax” in world, even as BJP’s Nishikant Dubey defended it asserting that Congress’ agenda is to oppose everything without looking at the positives.

Initiating the debate on the Finance Bill in Lok Sabha, Tharoor alleged that the BJP government’s economic management is facing structural challenges. “The Finance Minister’s Budget speech in this house reminded me of the garage mechanic who said I couldn’t fix your brakes, so I made the horn louder but looking at the Finance Bill, she is now saying to taxpayers, I couldn’t repair the roof but I brought you an umbrella.

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“This Finance Bill is a classic case of patchwork solutions. At a time when the nation needs clarity, conviction and decisive leadership, the government’s economic management finds itself in the grasp of deep rooted structural challenges,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.

Tharoor said India has the most confusing and complex GST structure in the world. “Instead of the good and simple tax we all wanted, India has multiple and confusing GST rates, including the highest GST rate in the world, at 28 per cent but tax revenues are still at 18 per cent of GDP,” he said, adding China has 13 per cent GST cap, but they collect 20 per cent of GDP.

“Vietnam has an even lower 8 per cent cap and collects 19 per cent of GDP. Thailand, GST is only 7 per cent, and they get a net 17 per cent of GDP. Now, beyond exorbitant rates, our system carries a dubious tax, the dubious burden of being the most complex tax in the world. 77 countries have GST, and they impose only one or two tax labs. This multi-rate structure in our country has further raised the compliance burden for businesses,” he said.

Participating in the debate, BJP’s Nishikant Dubey said, it is a known fact that the country’s economy which was worth USD 2 trillion has increased to USD 4.5 trillion in the last ten years. Observing that the Budget does not provide a magic solution to all problems, he said, “it is a result of hard work aimed at helping the workers…it is Congress’ agenda to oppose everything without looking at the positives. You need to answer what did you (Congress) do for the poor and salaried class.”

Congress MP KC Venugopal alleged that a corporate loan worth Rs 18 lakh crore has been written off by the BJP government.

Intervening in the debate, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said written off does not mean that the money has been given away. The government is following up with cases, she added. PTI