Reduce GST on non A-C restaurants to 5%, says traders’ federation

The Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peramaippu on Tuesday urged the Central and State governments to reduce the Goods and Service Tax on non air-conditioned restaurants to 5% from 12%.

Speaking to reporters after the federation’s State consultative committee meeting here, its State president A.M. Vikramaraja said traders, including retailers, were severely affected since the demonetisation of high denomination currency notes. In addition to it, the high percentage of GST on various commodities and services had added woes to the traders. Hence, the Central and State government should take steps to revive the fortune of traders.

The federation had presented a 28-point memorandum to the Central and State governments on reducing GST. Action must be taken on the memorandum at the GST council meeting to be held on Friday. If their demands were not met, the Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peramaippu would organise a south India-level protest by involving various trade bodies in the region.

Mr. Vikramaraja said it was important that the GST on non A/C restaurants be reduced to 5%. Similarly, under no circumstances, GST components should be calculated based on the maximum retail price. GST should be within the MRP.

He said the federation would meet the State Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar to impress upon him to articulate the sentiments of traders in the GST council meeting on Friday.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/reduce-gst-on-non-a-c-restaurants-to-5-says-traders-federation/article20001265.ece