GST gets Rajya Sabha clearance; Jaitley thanks Opposition

New Delhi: The much-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill got clearance from the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, paving way for it to be rolled out by July 1.

The four GST related bills - Central GST Bill, 2017, the Integrated GST Bill, 2017, the GST (Compensation to States) Bill, 2017 and the Union Territory GST Bill, 2017 – had been passed by the Lower House of the Parliament on March 29.

Also Read: Lok Sabha passes four GST related bills; here are the key highlights

After the bills got clearance from both houses of the Parliament, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the successive governments have contributed towards the one tax system and no single government could take the credit for the same.

"This Bill, I have no hesitation in conceding, is a collective property," Jaitley said.

Now, the state governments will have to pass the States GST Bill which would enable the roll out of the new indirect tax regime.

Jaitley quashed the speculations that the GST will bring inflation saying that the reform will usher a uniform indirect tax regime in the country.

"I have no hesitation in conceding that it is not a bill for which one government, one person or any individual should take a credit. It is a collective property in which states, political parties, central government, successive governments have all contributed to it," he said.

Also Read: GST Bill to be tabled in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday

He even went to the Opposition benches to thank them for giving support to the NDA government's initiative.

"I have no difficulty in sharing the credit for this with everyone, particularly state governments because we are now creating a situation which was originally not anticipated in the Constitution,” he pointed out.

The GST, which is unarguably the biggest taxation reform since independence, will subsume central excise, service tax, VAT and other local levies and create one uniform market.