New Delhi, Aug 11: Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan has been vocal about his position on GST and never mince words in pointing out the issues involving the indirect tax system.
Speaking about the problems related to GST, the Minister on Wednesday said that there was a profound structural flaw and lack of clarity in the system.
“…I find that there is such profound structural flaws and lack of clarity which raise the question that four and half years after the (GST) council, the law and the system we still debate, for an hour and half in the beginning of the meeting that happens after 8 months break when law calls for every three-month meeting, the first hour and half of the 43rd Council meeting was, which items on the agenda are for approval, which are for ratification and which are for information,” Rajan said in an interview to news channel NDTV.
He further said that given the fact as stated the GST system was surely not an ideal one.
The Minister, however, noted that he was a new entrant (in GST Council) and his views were more as a systems analyst or ex-banker or ex-consultant.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan or PTR as he is commonly known holds engineering degree from NIT, Trichy and an MBA degree from prestigious Sloan School of Management at MIT.
Asked if the economy was back on track as claimed by the government and also indicated by some macro numbers, the MIT graduate-turned politician said he would wait for data to come for a few more months to conclude if the green shoots were permanent.
He noted that the economy had suffered from structural damage not because of Covid but prior to that as a result of bad policy and lack of corrective action at the right time.
The economy was in steady decline for 7-8 quarters before we heard the word Covid, Rajan said.
