Congress problem not with GST, but NDA: Haseeb Drabu, Finance Minister, Jammu & Kashmir

SRINAGAR: J&K finance minister Haseeb Drabu has said that the model and framework of the GST bill are “very good”, and the sooner it is implemented the better it is for the country’s economic health.

The minister added that J&K was a special case not by virtue of Article 370 but by 1960 Sales Tax Act, which actually empowered the state to levy taxes on services and the state government had been doing it. “The real question is should we forgo power to raise tax, for sharing taxes,” the minister said.

The J&K finance minister said: “The Congress party has a problem with the ( NDA) government, not with the GST bill.

The bill was started by the Congress and stalled by a few states for 14 long years, including Gujarat.” He said there had been a larger political consensus on reforms and breaking of this consensus would hurt the economy. “If Congress is trying to be disruptive today in terms of a particular thing that they started, it signifies the break of the consensus on economic reforms.

The work that has been done since 1991 is under threat. The Congress must see it from that perspective.”