Chaos In Implementation Of GST, Need To Simplify It: Punjab Finance Minister

Alleging that there has been lot of "chaos" in the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said the new tax regime should be made simpler, especially for small players.

The Congress leader said that GST was not very well planned.

He also said that the country's economy is not in a position to bear shocks like note ban (demonetisation) and GST within a year.

"Simplify, especially for some sectors like textile sector, construction sector, bicycle industry, especially for the small and medium trader and for that, government of India must listen to the feedback coming from the states," he said.

"Every state has a peculiar problem and there are multiple slab rates," Badal said.

He alleged that there has been lot of chaos and "pandemonium" in the implementation of GST.

"So, we could have done this more scientifically. We should have had a three-month trial run or something," he said.

The economy of the country is not in a position to bear "shocks" like demonetisation and GST within a span of one year, he claimed.

The ruling BJP is rattled by the fallout of the new tax regime, he said.

"So, there is something seriously wrong. It has to be corrected. I can see it now as a member of the GST Council that the BJP is actually rattled by the consequences of this," said Badal, while on a visit to the Telangana Congress office a few days ago.