GANGTOK: Yesterday the Sikkim State Assembly ratified the Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST). Sikkim Assembly in a special sitting passed a resolution on ratification of the GST bill was that moved by R B Subba, state Minister for Law, Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs and passed by the House. Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling thanked the Speaker and all the members of the Sikkim Assembly for conducting the special session and for passing the resolution. The session concluded with a vote of thanks by the Assembly Speaker K N Rai. The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 on GST was passed by Parliament recently and it needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST Council which will decide the new tax rate and other issues. The Central government has set April 1, 2017 as target for rolling out GST, considered as the biggest tax reform. So far thirteen states – Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Telangana and Mizoram have already ratified the Bill. ]]>
