Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rejected the Oxfam report which concluded that the richest contribute a paltry amount to the GST kitty. , Photo Credit: ANI
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 21, 2023 rejected the findings of an Oxfam report, saying that ninety percent of India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection is paid by the top 22% of businesses with a turnover of ₹50 crore More than. contribute a fraction of the GST kitty, while the poorest 50% contribute two-thirds of the revenue.
The Oxfam report “appears to be based on various improbable assumptions, and not on irrefutable or verifiable facts”, the minister said in the Rajya Sabha, noting that GST is a consumption tax collected from suppliers of goods and services, not from the end consumers of the goods. and services.
“Therefore, it is not possible to calculate how much GST has actually been paid by whom. From the return filing data, it is clear that 90% of GST is paid by the top 22% of businesses in India with a turnover of more than 50 crores,” Ms Sitharaman said.
To keep the incidence of taxation low on items of mass consumption, goods such as unpackaged food grains, fruits and vegetables and services such as education and health have been exempted from GST, he said. Besides this, items like edible oils, life-saving drugs and fertilizers are in the 5% slab.
Oxfam’s report on indirect taxes is based on estimated expenditure on certain food items and non-food items and states that 64.3% of the total GST collected from these food and non-food items comes from the bottom 50% income group and 3 % -4% from the top 10% income bracket. “Thus, the percentage is not with respect to total GST revenue, but only GST from select items,” the minister explained, adding that it is not known which items were considered by Oxfam.
Responding to an MP’s question on the contribution of different income groups to GST, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chowdhary said it is not possible to calculate it “as neither the consumer invoice data is taken by the government nor the information on the invoice Consumer’s Income”.