Except Tamil Nadu, virtually all states on board over GST Bill: Jaitley

Kolkata: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday the much stalled Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which aims to bring the country under a unified tax regime, has earned the support of virtually all states except Tamil Nadu. "All states have virtually supported the GST. Only Tamil Nadu has expressed some reservations," said Jaitley after holding a meeting with the Finance Ministers of 22 other states and representatives from seven others in Kolkata. The Finance Minister at the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers meeting also shot down the Congress' demand to write a cap for the GST into the constitution and said the states agreed to the move. The proposed tax reform, India's biggest revenue shake-up since independence in 1947, seeks to replace a slew of federal and state levies, transforming the nation into a customs union. The Congress Party, the original author of the tax reform, has said that it would back the GST if the government agreed to cap the tax rate at 18 percent and create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government now is in lieu of hopes to have the Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.