The government may have won a painfully long war on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in the Parliament on Monday, but the issue of Kacha bill and Pakka bill continues to be a riddle.
During the passage of the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, better known as GST Bill on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said GST was “crucial” for ending tax terrorism besides reducing corruption and black money.
The reason is the duel between Kacha Bill and Pakka bill. The PM said in the Parliament, “The ‘kacha bill’ and ‘pakka bill’ system in our country has helped mobilise black money. GST will help put an end to this.”
Though the trading community has hailed the passage of GST Bill, they strongly feel that they alone cannot be responsible for the circulation of kacha bill in the market.
“There is a general perception that traders don’t issue pakka bill, which is wrong. There are instances where a trader didn’t give pakka bill to a customer, but in large number of cases customers avoid taking it, because they would have to pay tax at 12.5 percent rate on the goods they purchased. Even, government officials don’t take bills against the purchases they make, so as to avoid paying tax,” said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general, Confederation of All India Trades (CAIT).
(Sourced from agencies, Feature image courtesy:readoo.in)
