The AAP government on Friday said that it will place the GST Bill for ratification before the Delhi Assembly during its four-day session beginning August 22 if it receives official communication about the Bill from the Centre.

Apart from Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Kejriwal government will also table two Bills during the Session which include a proposal of doing away with the luxury tax on hotel room renting up to Rs 1500 and the other one is related to Ambedkar University.

The AAP government has already made it clear that it is in favour of GST, which would subsume a number of indirect central and state levies. Although the AAP dispensation and the BJP-led Central government have been at loggerheads on several issues, the former said that it will ratify the GST Bill in the Assembly during the upcoming session as it will increase the state government’s share in taxes.

The GST bill, seen as single biggest tax reform in a long time, needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST council which will decide the new tax rate and other issues.

The AAP government is also all set to introduce a Bill in the Delhi Assembly to do away with luxury tax on hotels having rent up to Rs 1,500 after Lt Governor Najeeb Jung gave his approval to the proposal.

As per the Delhi Tax on Luxuries Act (1996), any person who stays in a hotel room whose tariff is Rs 750 per day or above, has to pay luxury tax. In March, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had announced that the government would reduce the threshold limit of luxury tax on a hotel room from Rs 750 to Rs 1,500 per day while presenting the 2016-17 budget. #casansaar (Indian Express)