JK traders alien to new tax regime

NL Correspondent

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir government might have succeed in implementing the goods and services tax (GST) and claiming state's special status would also be “protected”, it has failed to make traders understand how to work under the tax reform.

Mohammad Shafi, who owns a medical shop, is clueless about the new tax regime. These days, he has been surfing Internet for hours to understand the GST, but is alien to it so far.

“I don't know how to work under this system,” Shafi said, who runs a medical shop in Srinagar's Karanagar area. “We are caught in the middle of old and new stock. I don't know whether the GST will be beneficial for me or I have to bear the loss.”

Many medicines, he says were under the 5 per cent slab earlier and now they fall under the 12 per cent bracket. “Everyone here looked the GST through the prism of Kashmir's political problem as many say it would erode the special status of the state. But the traders are confused how to work under this system and that part has been ignored so far,” he said.

He said that traders were not prepared for the new tax system. “Government should have made people aware how to adapt the reform,” Shafi added.

Like Shafi, there are other traders who too seem clueless about the tax reform.

Aijaz Ahmad Bhat, a young retailer, who deals with cosmetics, said he did not know whether he was in for a profit or loss under the GST.

“So far I don't know how to work under it,” he said, who runs the shop in old city Srinagar's Hawal area. “I don't know how to bill the customers and what will be the quantum of tax.”

He said the traders were not made aware about the new system. “Government should make few months of the GST an interim period to understand it. Government should not penalise traders during this learning period,” he said.

Similarly, the Telecom sector which was tax-free in JK earlier has now been put under 18 percent tax bracket. An official of a telecom company said the customer would get a talk time of Rs 80 to Rs 82 on a recharge of 100 instead of Rs 97 earlier. Domestic cooking gas would be costlier Rs 35 across JK.

As per rules, commodities packed before June 30 are supposed to be sold to customers at the MRP fixed earlier and those packed on or after July 1 have to be sold after imposing GST. However, this rule seems to have failed to reach most traders in Kashmir resulting in “confusion and trouble” for customers.

The GST was rolled out on July 7, a week after its implementation across the country.

Finance Minister, Haseeb Drabu had said the state government had recommended implementation of the GST in the modified manner to protect the constitutional position of the JK. “It will also benefit the business community here,” he had said.

He had said there were special provisions in the presidential order that safeguards the “special position” of the state and on Article 370.

As per the presidential order, which was presented in the House and later the State-GST bill was passed, the powers of the Jammu and Kashmir as per Section 5 of the Constitution of the state shall remain intact.