Budget 2013: GST future still uncertain post committee meet

The future of GST remains uncertain. The empowered committee of state finance ministers is meeting in Bhubaneshwar. Yesterday, there was consensus among states on the CST compensation. But after the meeting today, it looks like there is no consensus on the GST design, reports Aakansha Sethi of CNBC-TV18.

The finance minister had set up a committee to look into the design of Goods and Services Tax (GST). Today, the state finance ministers met in Bhubaneswar to discuss this committees report.
All states are still not onboard for GST, but there seems to be some broad consensus on this report on GST design. So, according to proposed solution, states who do not favour GST can choose to stay away from GST.
Earlier, it was reported that GST could be implemented in a phased manner similar to value added tax (VAT) and the rationale behind that is, that it will be economically compelling for states which choose to stay out of GST to come onboard and eventually all states will have to accept GST. Second, the committee has recommended doing away with the dispute resolution panel and a floor rate with a narrow range in which the GST rate can be set.
While the floor rate and the narrow range are present in the constitutional amendment, the removal of dispute resolution panel may be a problem because the constitutional amendment does propose Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP). It had been a cause of concern for the states, but if one remove the DRP then how will one have a uniform rate of GST.
So, that is a big question mark that needs to be answered and it remains to be seen if that change in the constitutional amendment will actually be made and whether it will have to once again go back to the standing committee. So, one can clearly expect further delay in GST after judging today's meeting.