Jammu region, Kashmir Valley sharply divided over implementation of Goods and Services Tax in the state.

Traders, industrialists and businessmen in the Jammu region have unequivocally supported the implementation of the GST to bring the state in line with the rest of the country whereas  the Valley’s representatives of the local chamber of commerce and industry have a diagonally opposite view to their counterparts in the Jammu region.

Meanwhile, if we go by online reports yesterday’s second meeting of an all-party consultative group, constituted by the Jammu and Kashmir government to evolve a consensus on the GST implementation in the state has form Consensus on GST, But With Riders. The government claimed that the parties were in agreement on the extension of the new tax regime but with safeguards to protect the fiscal autonomy of the state.

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The meeting held threadbare discussions over the legal, legislative, financial, economic and administrative aspects of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime with the chairman explaining in detail the nuances of the new tax regime.

Regarding GST, the finance minister said it would be an integrated tax regime which would replace 16 taxes currently being levied by the Centre and the state government.

There was a general consensus in the meeting that non-implementation of GST regime would trigger economic and financial chaos in the State with the inter-state trade vis-a-vis J&K taking a big hit.

With barely few hours left for the nationwide rollout of Goods and Services Tax (regime) the Jammu and Kashmir government today said there was absolutely no practical way of staying out of the regime even as no roadmap was made public about implementation of the new taxation law.

While the government remained tight-lipped, informed sources said that a cabinet approval or issuance of Ordinance were the two possibilities which the government could chose from to meet the GST implementation deadline.

There are also reports that Jammu & kashmir state Set to miss the midnight roll out deadline, Jammu and Kashmir government is going for assembly session from July 4 to 8 to debate and pass the GST Law. The law to be passed by J&K Assembly, is most likely to unaltered version of the CGST and its SGST.

Moreover, with Jammu and Kashmir government still undecided on rolling out the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the state from July 1, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday that the border state stood to suffer major losses if it does not implement GST.