New Delhi, Dec 20 (KNN) The statement of Prime Minister has come at a time when the trading community was expecting more simplification of GST, said Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).

CAIT has welcomed the statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocating further rationalization of the GST and to keep highest tax slab rate of 28% limited up to few sin items only.

Khandelwal said that almost one and a half year has passed since the implementation of GST in the Country and not it is the time to establish GST as a settled taxation system.

The CAIT is continuously demanding harmonization of tax rates and it is all the more necessary that most of the items from 28% tax slab should be placed under lower tax category.

Similarly the tax slab of 18% also needs to have a re-look as many of the items of 18% tax rate deserve to be placed under 12% or lower tax slab.

The statement of the Prime Minister amply reflects that the Government has understood the complications of present tax structure and willing to rectify and rationalize it in the larger interest of revenue.

Khandelwal said that many of the items used as raw material are attracting a tax rate of 18% whereas  the finished goods of the same raw material is taxed at 12% thereby leaving a refund of 6% to the traders.

This anomaly needs to be rectified and items used as raw material should always be either at the lower tax slab than the finished goods or both should be at par. Likewise there are many issues which need to be sorted out.

"We have every hope that GST Council meeting of 22nd December will certainly discuss these issues and major relief will be given to traders in matter of tax rates"-said Khandelwal.