"Under UPA there was tax terror," Ashwini Vaishnaw hits out at Congress criticism of GST reforms

New Delhi [India], September 22 (ANI): Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw slammed the Opposition parties for criticising the Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms, which come into effect on Monday.
Comparing the taxes on household items under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime to the taxes after the GST cut, he said that the industries and the MSMEs were under the "tax terror" before 2014.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital, he said, "The GST reforms have been implemented today. A while ago, I was in a market in RK Puram, and people buying goods there also said that they were happy."
"Under the UPA, there was a tax terror on industries and MSMEs. The web of several taxes was unified into GST. When GST was widely accepted, the next-generation reforms were brought in. Step by step, the nation has reached a good position. I thank Prime Minister Modi and the Finance Minister for the reforms," he said.
The Union Minister noted that the taxes on cement, sanitary pads, and footwear have significantly reduced as compared to the UPA government.
"The Opposition is unhappy. In their time, there were only talks and no work. UPA taxed cement at 30 per cent. How would a commoner fulfil their dream of building a house? Now it is at 18 per cent... The UPA taxed sanitary pads at 13 per cent, and now they have zero tax. The paint used on houses was taxed at 30 per cent; it is 18 per cent now. Tax on footwear is now 5 per cent as compared to 18 per cent during the UPA," Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
Further, he said that household items such as a refrigerator and a television cannot be classified as luxury items, whereas items such as detergent, shampoo, and coffee attracted 30 per cent tax under the UPA regime as compared to 5 per cent under the GST 2.0.
Vaishnaw said, "Every family aspires to have a refrigerator and television; these were not luxury items back then. Refrigerator attracted a 30 per cent tax, which is now reduced to 18 per cent. Tax on detergent and shampoo was 30 per cent, now it is 5 per cent. The tax on coffee has been reduced from 30 per cent to 5 per cent."
"For farmers, there was a 12 per cent tax on fertiliser and urea; it is 5 per cent now," he added.
Ashwini Vaishnaw's remarks follow an attack by the Opposition leaders amid the implementation of GST reforms.
Earlier, Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the latter opposed the GST when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
"From 2006-2014, for eight years, only one CM opposed the GST, and that CM became the Prime Minister in 2014 and took a U-turn and emerged as a messiah of GST in 2017," Ramesh, General Secretary incharge of communications in Congress, told ANI.
He further pointed out that the recently announced GST reforms were limited since they don't provide ease in navigating the procedural complexities of the MSME sector.
"The recent reforms to GST are limited. The need to provide ease in the procedural complexities of the MSME sector has not been fulfilled. The Prime Minister has not said anything on the demand of state governments to provide them with a five-year compensation package. Many issues need to be addressed," Ramesh said.
While Congress MP Pramod Tiwari accused the Centre of "looting" poor and middle-class citizens.
"The question that needs to be asked is who increased the GST? Who put a burden on the country by increasing it for eight years? You (PM Modi) should have apologised to the nation yesterday. Congress and the Opposition had been demanding only one slab on the basis of 'one nation, one tax'. However, you looted the poor and middle-class citizens," Tiwari told ANI. (ANI)