Jaipur, Apr 27 (KNN) Rajasthan became the third state to pass the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Bill.

The Rajasthan Assembly on Tuesday passed the Bill in the absence of 14 suspended MLAs. It is the third state to do so after Telangana and Bihar.

With the lone exception of Congress MLA, Pradhyumn Singh, all other members voted for the bill. All tax laws related to value added tax (VAT), entertainment tax, entry tax of goods, luxury tax, etc. will now be subsumed under SGST.

Rajasthan Industry Minister Rajpal Singh Shekhawat said, "The complexity in taxes was a tax in itself. The GST is aimed to reduce these complexities and turn the country's into a developing economy."

He maintained that the state would not lose its sovereignty . "Under the garb of GST, the Centre will not be able to operate arbitrarily.

More than 4.24 lakh taxpayers from the state have migrated to GST and all necessary infrastructure has been created for the smooth transition to the new taxation system.

Singh, however, claimed that the GST lacked guidelines on how the states would be compensated if the cess collection of the Centre came down.